South Korea's Posco (OKX) said Monday it has formed a 50-50 joint venture partnership with JW Steel to build an integrated steel mill in India with an annual capacity of 6M tons/year, expanding an earlier plan as steel demand continues to surge.

The agreement is a 20% increase from the 5M tons/year outlined in a memorandum of understanding signed by the two steel companies in October 2024.

Under the new heads of agreement, the companies said they have identified the eastern state of Odisha as a potential site for the plant; a feasibility study will be conducted before a final decision is made.

The companies said they plan to accelerate the project to gain an edge in India, where steel consumption has expanded 9%-10% annually in the past three years and is forecast to more than triple to 400M tons by 2047 from 120M tons in 2023, according to World Steel Dynamics.