ArcelorMittal Brazil plans to develop a new line of steel products for the automotive industry at its São Francisco do Sul plant, in the state of Santa Catarina. The project has an investment of BRL1.9bn ($329mn) and is scheduled to start operations in the third quarter of 2023.
The plant will fulfill the increasing demand for flat products in the country, a media outlet reported without disclosing the volume or further details of the new steel line.
The project, which was initially announced in 2014, was stopped because of a financial crisis in Brazil.
The São Francisco do Sul plant has an annual production capacity of 1.6mn mt of cold rolled-coil, hot rolled-coil, and pipes.
Brazil’s crude steel output rose by 3.8pc to 2.8mn mt last month, from 2.7mn mt in February 2020. Rolled steel production also rose by 8.3pc to 2.05mn mt in February, from 1.89mn mt produced in the same month from the prior year, and flat steel production climbed by 10.8pc to 1.21mn mt in February, from 1.09mn mt in the same month the prior year.
($1=BRL5.76)