The world's largest steel maker Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal said on Thursday that it intends to invest 5 billion U.S. dollars in Brazil in the next few years.

    Mittal participated in the inauguration ceremony of the last stage of the expansion of a steel plant in Tubarao, Espirito Santostate, southeastern Brazil. He said the investments include the expansion projects of other Arcelor Mittal production units in the country.

    The expansion of the Tubarao unit will allow its annual production to rise from the current 5 million tons of steel to 7.5million tons, and increase sales by 1.2 billion dollars per year.

    The company announced that there will be a new expansion project in Tubarao, aimed at increasing the production of flat steel, and another expansion on galvanized steel in Arcelor Mittal Vega, the group's unit in Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil.

    The projects include a rise in the production capacity of Arcelor Mittal Belgo, located in the municipality of Joao Monlevade, Minas Gerais state, also in the southeast of the country.

    "Nowhere else in the world have we had as much success as in Brazil," said the CEO.