Tata Steel eyes steel scrap recycling in SE Asia

India's steelmaker Tata Steel is looking at acquisitions in steel scrap recycling in South East Asia and will continue to invest upstream to increase its self-sufficiency in raw materials.

"We are looking at opportunities," Tata Steel group director of procurement, Kees Gerretse, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Metal Bulletin steel scrap conference in Istanbul.

"We are looking of course not at the big ones (recyclers), we are looking at tier two or three opportunities. We would like to have something in Southeast Asia as there is shortage of scrap in that region."

Tata, the world's No 7 steelmaker, is focusing on steel raw materials such as iron ore, coking coal and steel scrap as it aims at reaching 50% self-sufficiency in raw materials. It is unlikely to reach this goal by 2014, as previously estimated, as the 2008 economic downturn slowed the acquisition process.

The India branch of the company is already self-sufficient in iron ore, but imports some coking coal. Tata Europe has 10-12% self-sufficiency in raw material.

Tata Steel agreed to sell its 26% stake in Australia's Riversdale to Rio Tinto for USD 1.1 billion earlier this year, giving the Anglo-Australian giant full control of the coal miner.