Evraz and Corus Hold Talks

The Moscow Times reported today the Evraz and Corus had met for talks

The country's largest steel producer, Evraz, has held talks with British-Dutch steelmaker Corus about a possible tie-up but has no plans to buy it in the near future, Evraz's chairman said in an interview published Wednesday.

Alexander Frolov told Vedomosti that Evraz was keen to expand abroad, but in a cautious manner: "We need annual return on invested capital of at least 20 percent."

He added that Evraz was mainly looking at rolling mills in Europe and the United States to produce more finished goods.

In June, Evraz's main owners agreed to sell a 41 percent stake to Roman Abramovich, in a deal valued by analysts at more than $3 billion.

There is no doubt that further consolidation is going to happen in the steel industry, and that Russia is set to emerge as a player. The vast reserves of resources within Russia, coupled with a low wage economy make it's increasing importance in the steel world inevitable. Corus/Evraz, Evraz Corus? who knows, maybe.