Praxair Inc. signed a long-term contract with Gerdau in India for the supply of gaseous oxygen to the company’s blast furnace in Tadipatri, Andhra Pradesh. Gerdau is the largest long-steel producer in the Americas and one of the leading suppliers of special long steel in the world. Praxair will build, own and operate an 80-ton/day non-cryogenic vacuum-pressure-swing-adsorption plant, which is expected to start up in 2016. Gerdau’s steel facility has an installed capacity to produce 300,000 tons of special steel per year for the automotive, defense, railways and related industries.