Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel will start purchasing a million tons annually of steel slabs from its Brazilian affiliate Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais, or Usiminas, in 2011, the Nikkei Japanese business daily newspaper reported. The move is the first concrete step in Nippon Steel's investment in the giant Brazilian steelmaker. "We will position Usiminas as a supply base for South America, Europe and the U.S.," company president Akio Mimura told the newspaper. Usiminas is investing $853 million to build new and enlarged blast furnaces, aiming to boost annual output of crude steel by 60% to 14 million tons by 2011.