Severstal, Russia’s biggest steelmaker, is planning to invest more than $6bn on bolstering its steel production in Asia, in an upbeat stance that goes against indications of slowing demand in the global steel industry as the financial crisis deepens.

Alexei Mordashov, chief executive of Russia’s biggest maker of the metal, told the Financial Times Severstal would be prepared to invest more than $6bn to start a steel production operation in an expanding Asian country in the next few years, possibly in India, Indonesia, Thailand, or Vietnam.