BEIJING, July 3: A major Chinese steelmaker has scrapped a plan to build a $5bn factory in Brazil due to high costs and a slump in global prices for the metal, state media said on Tuesday.

Wuhan Iron and Steel (Wisco) and Brazil’s LLX, a subsidiary of the EBX group controlled by Brazil’s richest man, Eike Batista, signed the deal to build the facility in Rio de Janeiro state in 2010. Under the agreement, Wisco was to own 70 per cent of the plant, with the Brazilian firm to take the remaining stake.—AFP

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