Japanese Nippon Steel Taking Over Direct Ownership of U.S. Steel Kosice

Kosice, 13 May (TASR) - Japan's largest steel producer, Nippon Steel Corporation, announced on Wednesday that it's decided to transfer Kosice-based U.S. Steel into its direct ownership. U.S. Steel Kosice will therefore become a fully owned subsidiary of Nippon Steel. The transfer into direct ownership is scheduled for 1 October, and it will include a change of name to Nippon Steel Slovakia s.r.o. The Kosice-based steelworks will serve as the corporation’s main production hub in Europe as part of its global strategy. "Through the direct ownership of U.S. Steel Kosice, Nippon Steel will establish it as a key centre of its European operations within its global strategy and will be directly involved in increasing profitability and accelerating the growth of its European business," stated Nippon Steel. Since commencing operations in 1965, U.S. Steel Kosice has contributed to the development of European manufacturing industry by supplying high-quality steel products to a wide range of sectors, including the automotive, electrical, packaging, energy and construction ones, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, stated Nippon Steel. "Based on the strategic location advantage, diverse portfolio of flat steel products, solid customer base, highly skilled workforce, and sound facilities USSK has cultivated over the years, Nippon Steel has been working, since its acquisition of U.S. Steel in 2025, to enhance USSK's competitiveness by further promoting the sharing and collaboration of technology, human resources, and sales and procurement networks," said the company. Nippon Steel described the European steel market as the third largest in the world after those of China and the United States. It's a mature market with big demand for high-grade steel, for which Nippon Steel can leverage its state-of-the-art product technologies. Especially in Central and Eastern Europe, economic growth is expected to continue and demand for high-grade steel is expected to increase driven by customers relocating their manufacturing bases, stated the Japanese company. Europe is undergoing a major structural transformation due to trends in decarbonisation and geopolitical uncertainties. "It is also a market with a high intra-regional self-sufficiency rate due to factors including tariffs, safeguards, and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Nippon Steel therefore finds it important to capture the growing demand as an insider," said the company. Nippon Steel representative and concurrently chairman of the U.S. Steel Board of Directors Takahiro Mori expressed his sincere respect for the 60-year history of outstanding operations and development at U.S. Steel Kosice. "Going forward, Nippon Steel will further deploy cutting-edge technology and management resources to USSK to enhance its business foundation, while also advancing mid- to long-term investments, including decarbonisation initiatives. Through these efforts, we will continue to contribute to European industry and our customers," he said. ko/df