Here's an interesting article from the AP on the incredible demand for steel in countries like Brazil and China.

Vale's Martins said he expected demand for steel will grow by about 7 percent this year, but most of that demand would come from emerging market nations because demand from the U.S. and Europe is growing by only around 1 to 2 percent.

It makes sense for Chinese companies to produce steel in Brazil because so much of the iron ore they use comes from Latin America's largest country, said Luiz Compagnoni, one of the conference organizers.

"A lot of the interest is due to a rise in the price of iron ore and increased steel exports," he said. "There's a tendency today to have steel mills close to the iron and Brazil has lots of iron."

Brazilian miners produce 25 percent of the world's iron ore _ the key ingredient of steel _ but only 4 percent of the world's pig iron _ the next step to producing steel.

In my Global Growth newsletter, I currently recommend three steel stocks, two are based in Brazil and one is based in Russia.