Mexican steelmaker Grupo Simec will invest $50mn to expand production at its Cariacica mill in Espírito Santo,Brazil in order to meet higher demand from the automotive, energy and construction industries.
With the investment, Simec will increase the plant’s output capacity to 800,000mt per year from 600,000mt and add the capability to produce 120,000mt of billets annually, the development secretariat for the government of Espírito Santo said in a media statement. The firm will also install a degassing furnace for efficiency and gas treatment and modernize the existing rolling mill system.
Apart from Cariacica, Simec owns three steel plants in Brazil that produce wire rod, rebar, billet, beams, channels, commercial and structural steel, and rod angles. In 2019, these steel plants produced 671,189mt of billet and 662,214mt of finished steel products. Grupo Simec noted in its Q3 results that it was mulling acquisitions or expanding one of its plants in Latin America to increase its total steel output.
Brazil’s crude steel output increased by 11.2pc to 2.95mn mt in November from 2.65mn mt in the same month last year, according to the latest figures from the Brazilian Steel Institute (Aço Brasil).