Corus, Vale sign MoU for iron ore supply

Kolkata, Oct 16: Tata Steel Group subsidiary Corus UK Ltd and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale) have signed a contract under which Vale will supply Corus plants in Europe with almost 63 million metric tonnes of iron ore over five years. The agreement will come into effect in 2009, a Tata Steel press release on Thursday, Oct 16 said.

Corus chief executive officer Philippe Varin has said, ''We are pleased to have reached this important agreement with Vale, which strengthens the relationship Corus and Vale have built up over the last 65 years.'' This contract complements the raw materials strategy for Tata Steel Group's European operations of combining external sources with future captive supplies." Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenue of more that 12 billion pound and annual crude steel production of about 20 million tonnes.

UNI