China Minmetals wins $42 mln Brazil contract

SHANGHAI, March 7 (Reuters) - China Minmetals, the country's largest base metals trader, said on Friday it had won a bid to design and supply equipment to a blast furnace owned by Cosipar, Brazil's top pig iron producer and exporter.

The contract was worth 300 million yuan ($42.22 million), and state-owned Minmetals would also provide technical support and training, it said in a statement.

Blast furnaces are used to produce pig iron from iron ore for subsequent processing into steel, and they are also used in processing lead, copper and other metals.

Minmetals, parent of Hong Kong-listed Minmetals Resources Ltd (1208.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Shanghai-listed Minmetals Development (600058.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is focusing its overseas expansion on Latin America and Africa to secure natural resources to supply a fast-growing Chinese economy. ($1=7.105 Yuan) (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)