POSCO, US Steel building $129 mln steel pipe plant

SEOUL, March 2 (Reuters) - South Korea's POSCO Co Ltd (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Sunday it had begun construction of a $129 million steel pipe plant in the United States jointly with U.S. Steel Corp (X.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and fellow Korean firm SeAH Steel Corp (003030.KS: Quote, Profile, Research).

The plant, in Pittsburg, California, will be completed by April 2009 and produce 270,000 tonnes of steel pipes a year, POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steel maker, said in a statement.

POSCO and U.S. Steel had earlier expected the plant to start operation in late 2008.

POSCO and U.S. Steel will have a stake of 35 percent each in the plant and SeAH will take 30 percent.

Most of the produced pipes will be sold in the United States and Canada, POSCO said. (Reporting by Rhee So-eui; Editing by Ben Tan)