TOKYO (Kyodo) — JFE Steel Corp., Japan's second-largest steelmaker, will increase annual crude steel output by 10 percent to 33 million tons by fiscal 2011 to meet expanding demand for high-quality steel sheets used in automobiles and home appliances, its president said Thursday.

 

JFE will invest a total of 150 billion yen to reinforce facilities at its plants in line with the planned increase in crude steel production, Hajime Bada said in a news conference.

 

The steelmaker will build additional facilities for production of half-finished steel products at its plant in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, while adding a new facility to its plant in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, for extracting impurities from iron, he said.

 

Bada said the Thai government has asked his company to invest in a project to construct a blast-furnace steelworks. JFE replied it is ''interested'' in the project, he said.

 

The company will consider the possibility of investment after assessing infrastructure and other conditions, he added.

 

Bada also said his company will ''positively consider'' building a production facility in Thailand for coated steel sheets for automobiles.