UPDATE 1-ThyssenKrupp Brazil steel plant delayed again

* Quality problems to delay Brazilian plant - report

* Spokesman says delay will not affect blast furnace start

* Decision on blast furnace start seen around Sept

(adds company comments, share price)

FRANKFURT, July 8 (Reuters) - Germany's largest steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp (TKAG.DE), will have to delay again the start-up of a coking operation at a new Brazilian plant but a spokesman said it should not affect the timing of its steel blast furnace.

A ThyssenMrupp spokesman confirmed a report in German newspaper Handelsblatt that said the August start date for the coking plant would be not be met. He added that quality issues needed to be addressed.

"We still have not decided on a new date," the spokesman said.

"We have already previously said that we have not yet made a decision on when the blast furnace would start production. That issue depends on the world economic developments," he said, adding a decision would be made sometime in September.

Handelsblatt said problems in the coking plant at Santa Cruz in Rio de Janeiro state could affect the production start of the steel blast furnace, which was scheduled for end-2009.

Analysts have said a delay in the coking plant would not be a material issue.

"The key question is when the blast furnace would start production," said Steubing analyst Michael Broeker.

ThyssenKrupp shares fell 0.9 percent by 1206 GMT, underperforming the 0.1 percent dip in the German blue-chip index .GDAXI.

ThyssenKrupp has incurred cost overruns in the Brazilian plant, with the original 3 billion euros ($4.19 billion) budget raised last year to around 4.5 billion just before a worldwide recession set in and steel demand shrank.

The new steel is slated to produce 5 million metric tonnes annually to underpin the company's ambitious growth strategies in Europe and North America.

($1=.7154 Euro) (Reporting by Marilyn Gerlach; Editing by David Cowell)