Further to the announcement of forming a new Joint Venture company in India between Tata Steel and BlueScope Steel, a dedication ceremony for the proposed state-of-the-art metallic coating and painting facility was held at Bara in Jamshedpur. The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Shri Arjun Munda unveiled the site dedication plaque along with Mr B Muthuraman, MD Tata Steel.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister, Mr Arjun Munda said that the setting up of the new facility by Tata Steel and BlueScope Steel Limited is indicative of Tata Steel’s commitment to the development of the state.

Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel said, “Tata Steel and BlueScope Steel share a similar approach to value creation in the steel business. Consumers would benefit from the range of solutions that will now be available to the Buildings industry. This JV combines the strengths of the two organizations and would increase the use of value added steel products.”

Present at the occasion were senior executives from BlueScope Steel Australia and Tata Steel. The new facility will have an annual metallic coating capacity of 250,000 tonnes and paint line capacity of 150,000 tonnes. The new facility is expected to be operational by 2008. The investment is consistent with the Company’s strategy of growing its downstream value-added products business in Asia.

The joint venture company will build a new business across India and South Asia that will manufacture zinc/aluminium metallic coated steel, painted steel and rollformed steel products, and deliver pre-engineered buildings (PEBs) and other building solutions. The head office will be located in Pune and the 50:50 joint venture agreement will be officially signed at a ceremony later this month.

The decision to proceed with development of a metallic coating and painting facility followed completion of a rigorous 12-month feasibility study jointly undertaken by Tata steel and BlueScope Steel representatives. The study confirmed the significant market opportunity to take the leadership position in quality coated and buildings solutions within South Asia. India is one of Asia’s fastest growing economies with the world’s second largest population after China.

About BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL)

BlueScope Steel is an international flat steel solutions company, with a manufacturing and marketing footprint spanning Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America. The Company is the global leader in the provision of high quality metallic coated and painted steel products for the building and construction sector, and also supplies customers in the general manufacturing, automotive and packaging sectors.

BlueScope Steel’s strategy is to grow the proportion of its revenue and earnings generated from downstream value-added steel products, by capitalising on high growth markets in Asia, providing leading product and service offers, and through successful inter-material competition based on the superior properties of steel products.

BlueScope Steel’s strengths include its unrivalled network of manufacturing facilities in Asia, proprietary coating and painting technologies and strong brands, including COLORBOND® steel, ZINCALUME® steel, the LYSAGHT® range of steel building products and the BUTLER® brand of pre-engineered steel buildings.

BlueScope Steel operates a 5.1 million tonnes per annum integrated steelworks at Port Kembla, Australia, a 650,000 tonnes per annum integrated steelworks in New Zealand, and has a 50 per cent interest in a 1.8 mt steel mini-mill in Delta, Ohio. Steel rolling, coating and painting plants are located in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, and under construction in China, Vietnam and India. BlueScope Steel has a network of more than 50 rollforming facilities in 13 countries that is unmatched by any other steel company, and is the market leader in steel pre-engineered buildings in China and North America.

The joint venture company will also assume ownership and responsibility for the development of the three rollforming and PEB manufacturing facilities that BlueScope Steel has under construction at Pune, Chennai and New Delhi. The development of the three new manufacturing facilities, was announced in December 2004 by BlueScope Steel. In addition, the joint venture will assume ownership of BlueScope Steel’s LYSAGHT® rollforming business in Sri Lanka, which has been in operation since 1994. In both cases Tata Steel will compensate BlueScope Steel for acquiring the 50% interest.

The joint venture will offer a comprehensive range of branded steel products for building and construction applications, including the premium ZINCALUME® and COLORBOND® coated steels, LYSAGHT® rollformed steel products and BUTLER™ PEBs.