MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Metalloinvest, the Russian iron ore and steel company owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov, will more than double output of hot-briquetted iron this year and has agreed long-term contracts for 80 percent of its production.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday its Lebedinsky GOK subsidiary, Russia's largest iron ore miner, would this year produce 2.4 million tonnes of hot-briquetted iron (HBI), a raw material produced from iron ore and used in steel making. Output last year was about 1 million tonnes. The increase will follow the launch of a second HBI line at Lebedinsky GOK.

Metalloinvest said it would supply 25,000 tonnes a month of HBI to Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, and the two companies were in discussions about a possible increase to this amount. Corus is owned by India's Tata Steel (TISC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research).

Metalloinvest said its HBI customers also included U.S. Steel Corp's (X.N: Quote, Profile, Research) plant in Slovakia and Italian firm Lucchini SpA, which is owned by Russian steel maker Severstal (CHMF.MM: Quote, Profile, Research). In 2008, the company has agreed to supply about 15,000 tonnes a month of HBI to Middle East, 20,000 tonnes to South Korea and at least 40,000 tonnes to Ukraine.

"Negotiations are also taking place about the supply of raw materials to Japan and Vietnam," Metalloinvest said in the statement. (Reporting by Robin Paxton; editing by Michael Roddy).