Loan for Building Pellet Feed Plant of CSN Mineração S.A. of Brazil
Contributing toward Long-term Securing of Mineral Resource by Japanese Company

• Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
• Energy and Natural Resources
• Overseas Investment Loans

1. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: HAYASHI Nobumitsu) signed on March 30 a loan agreement amounting to up to USD980 million (JBIC portion) with CSN Mineração S.A. (CM) of Brazil, invested in by, inter alia, Itochu Corporation (Itochu). The loan is co-financed with BNP PARIBAS (acting through its Tokyo Branch) (ECA Coordinator), Citibank, N.A., Tokyo Branch (ECA Coordinator), JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., Tokyo Branch, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Tokyo Branch, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, bringing the total co-financing amount to USD1,400 million. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) will provide the insurance for the loan by the private financial institutions.
     
2. The loan is intended to finance the funds necessary for CM, of which Itochu, JFE Steel Corporation, and Kobe Steel, Ltd. are shareholders among others, to build a new pellet feed^*1 production plant. The new plant is expected to produce 15 million tons/year of pellet feed, and Itochu will secure its long-term offtake right of the pellet feed produced by the plant.
     
3. Pellet feed is an essential raw material for low-carbon steelmaking in a direct reduction method using an electric furnace, which can reduce approximately 40% of CO2 than using a blast furnace, and securing a stable supply of pellet feed is crucial for steelmakers that aims to achieve decarbonization. The loan will financially support Itochu's long-term securing of pellet feed, thereby contributing toward a stable supply of the critical mineral resource for the Japanese steel industry and toward supply chain resilience and the realization of a sustainable society.
     
4. As Japan's policy-based financial institution, JBIC will continue to provide financial support for the securing of a stable supply of mineral resources to Japan, by drawing on its various financial facilities and schemes for structuring projects and by performing its risk-assuming function.
     

Note

1. *1 
   Pellet feed is processed iron ore crushed into particles in a size of 0.05mm or smaller in diameter. It is agglomerated in a pellet plant and fed into a blast furnace or direct-reduction furnace.