ArcelorMittal has completed construction of the new 2.5 million mt/year hot strip mill at its Mexican Lazaro Cardenas plant, producing the first coil on Dec. 15, the company said in a statement.
The new mill will kick off commercial operations in January, according to the steelmaker, taking the plant’s capacity to 5.3 million mt/y of finished steel. Flat-rolled steel production would total 2.5 million mt, long steel would total 1.8 million mt and 1 million mt would be slabs.
According to the company, its new production of hot-rolled coils “can cover [one-third] of the total production of the national market, which was 16.8 million mt in 2021, according to data from the national steel chamber, Canacero.
Following investments of $1 billion and three years of construction, the new Mexican mill changes ArcelorMittal Mexico’s profile from an exporter of semi-finished steel to a downstream steel manufacturer.
The HSM is able to produce a wide range of sheets with a final thickness of 25.4 mm to a minimum of 1.2 mm, as well as the production of low carbon steels, ultra-low carbon, high strength low alloy, and API grades.
ArcelorMittal operates eight sites that produce flats across the US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil, and 15 sites across Europe. Its long carbon business has 15 sites in the Americas and 17 integrated and mini-mill facilities in nine European countries.
— Adriana Carvalho
