ArcelorMittal Invests $1 Billion to Upgrade Mexican facility

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Luxembourg-headquartered multinational steel making conglomerate ArcelorMittal has announced its decision to make huge investment in Mexican facility over the next three years, in a bid to advance its North American trade operations. The announcement to this effect was made by Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and chief executive during an event held in southern state of Chiapas. The event was also attended by Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito.

The planned investment at its Lázaro Cárdenas steelmaking complex in Mexico is expected to enhance the mill’s downstream operating and production capabilities by modernizing its assets. Further, it will provide significant boost to the company’s Mexican mining operations. The high-quality semi-finished steel slab products from the mill are expected to lend big support to its NAFTA operations. The proposed investment is in line with the company’s Action 2020 strategic plan to boost the proportion of higher value-added products in its product mix and is scheduled to get completed by 2020.

According to Lakshmi Mittal, the proposed investment will help the company to meet the rapidly growing Mexican demand for steel products. The works on modernizing assets at the the Pacific coast port of Lazaro Cardenas will commence soon, he said. Eventually, the project will generate nearly 800 new jobs and provide considerable boost to the region’s economic activity, Mittal added. It must be noted that Lazaro Cardenas has been the home for ArcelorMittal’s Mexican steel making operations since a long time.

The investment will be primarily utilized towards construction of a new hot strip mill at the site, which is estimated to be completed in three years time. Upon completion, the plant will have capability to produce 2.5 million tonnes of flat rolled steel per year. In addition, the company plans to produce nearly 1.8 million tonnes of long steel and around 1 million tonnes of semi-finished slabs. The coils produced by the new mill will mainly be used to feed the demand from domestic industry customers.

Alongside, Mexican steelmaker Ternium too announced its decision to invest $1.1 billion in constructing a new hot rolling mill in the country, which will have a production capacity of nearly 3.7 million tonnes per year. The Ternium facility is expected to become operational by mid-2020, the company statement said.