US may probe China’s Anshan Steel’s $175 million investment in US steelmaker

A group of 50 US lawmakers has urged the US Committee on Foreign Investment (Cfius) to probe plans by China's Anshan Iron and Steel Group to invest $175 million in the US-based Steel Development Co (SDCO) on grounds of national security.

If Chinese state-owned firm Anshan's investment is blocked by Cfius, it would be the third such Chinese deal that the Obama administration has vetoed in less than a year.

Anshan, China's fourth-largest steel maker said in May 2010 that it plans to invest $175 million in privately held SDCO's steel "rebar" production mill that is currently under construction in Amory, Mississippi.

SDCO plans to produce the steel rebar from 100-per cent recycled scrap steel in the Amory mill that will have the latest state-of-the-art technology, which converts scrap to finished product in just 67 minutes.

Rebar or reinforcing bar steel is commonly used by the infrastructure industry.

Late last week, the 50 lawmakers, who support the US steel industry, wrote to Cfius, chaired by the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, to launch an investigation into the proposed $175 million investment by Anshan in SDCO's steel "rebar" production mill.

Dan DiMicco, the chief executive of Nucor and chairman of the American Iron and Steel Institute, who has also called for an investigation into Anshan's investment, said in a written statement, "We welcome market-based investment by private enterprises, including foreign investment. But Anshan should not be confused with a private investor. It is executing the official state plan to go abroad for strategic reasons."