Nippon Steel eyes Asian infrastructure projects

TOKYO, Nov 26 - Nippon Steel Corp, the world's second-biggest steelmaker, said it plans to boost exports of construction-use steel, aiming to tap burgeoning infrastructure projects in emerging markets.

Strong car sales have propped up Japanese steelmakers' sales of automotive sheet steel at home and abroad helped by government incentives, but Japan's construction market shows no signs of a pickup, hit by severe public spending cuts.

"We are making various business proposals, targeting big infrastructure projects planned in emerging markets," said Ei Saburi, a manager at Nippon Steel.

Nippon Steel said it had recently supplied 16,000 tonnes of its 38 metre (125 ft) steel sheet piles, which it says are the longest in the world, for use in South Korea's Inchon Bridge, connecting Inchon International Airport and the city.

The sheet piles, used in undersea structures to protect the foundation of piers, are 50 percent longer than conventional ones, helping to cut costs and simplify the construction process, the company said.

The doldrums in Japan's construction sector have weighed on steelmakers' earnings recovery. Orders for construction steel at home plunged 21 percent in September from a year earlier.

In contrast, Nippon Steel expects China's imports of sheet piles, used mainly in seawalls, to grow to 200,000 tonnes in 2009 from 40,000 tonnes in 2008, due to active construction work and a lack of sheet pile producers there. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Michael Watson) ((yuko.inoue@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1815; Reuters Messaging; yuko.inoue.reuters.com@reuters.net)) (