India steel giant plows $1B into U.S., more to come

JSW Steel, India’s top steelmaker, says it’s scouting for more deals in the U.S. and Europe to expand its global footprint, betting that vibrant growth will underpin demand in overseas markets and complement a boom at home that’s seen the mill ramp up local output.

“What is driving us is that, inherently, we find it is an interesting opportunity because the U.S. economy is doing well” and the investment cycle looks positive, Joint Managing Director Seshagiri Rao said in an interview. After meeting half its target for 10 million tons of capacity overseas, the steelmaker is now looking to buy more facilities, Rao said in Mumbai.

While the global industry has been roiled this year by tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on some flows of steel into the world’s top economy, mills are still enjoying benign conditions. Worldwide production hit a record in May as capacity utilization climbed, according to the World Steel Association. Against that backdrop, Mumbai-based JSW has been busy: after announcing a move to triple output at its Texas plant, it snapped up another U.S. facility in Ohio, taking total planned investment in the country to $1 billion.

For Rao, the commercial lure isn’t dependent on the trade moves, which he said are transitory. “The U.S. economy — notwithstanding the trade remedial measures which the U.S. government has taken — is quite buoyant, demand is picking up,” he said on Tuesday. “It is not because tariffs were introduced in the U.S. or somewhere else, that is why we wanted to invest.”

Still, Ritesh Shah, an analyst at Investec Capital Services, said JSW’s decisions were sound in the context of the curbs. “It does make sense to have manufacturing bases in U.S. and Europe in an increasingly protectionist world,” said Shah.