Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Malay Mukherjee, a member of the management board of ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, comments on the outlook for iron ore demand and proposed ventures in India and in Shanghai.

He spoke in an interview today in Dalian.

On iron ore demand:

``There are a number of new capacities coming on line. It will depend on what the growth will be in the steel industry. The iron ore supply-demand will balance in 2009 and 2010. The issue is more of logistics and freight because freight rates have gone up considerably.''

On proposed plants in India:

``In the MOU there are timetables for everything: getting the land, infrastructure and iron ore. In Orissa state, we have applied for the land. That's going very well. In Jharkhand, we are now completing the final survey. We are going to set up the two, 12 million-ton plant in two phases. As soon as we have some fortune of the land, which can be in the next one year, we can start the construction.''

On the possible expansion of Shanghai auto steel venture:

``What is being discussed is how we could expand. Is it going to be a new product? The automobile (industry) is also changing. Now hybrid cars are coming. We don't look cold-rolled sheets as niche products, we go beyond.''

To contact the reporter for this story: Helen Yuan in Shanghai at hyuan@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 7, 2007 03:21 EDT