Steel Mills

Ternium Runs First Coils at New Hot Strip Mill in Mexico

Written by David Schollaert

May 20, 2021

Ternium has completed its new hot strip mill in Pesqueria, Mexico, ahead of schedule. The Latin American steelmaker ran its first two hot rolled coils in mid-May at the new mill near Monterrey, more than two weeks ahead of its originally planned June start-up.

“This is a very important milestone; it is the result of the efforts of many people who put their dedication into all this time. It’s a success for the whole team,” said César Jiménez, president of Ternium Mexico.

The new rolling mill, which cost more than $1.1 billion and has an annual hot-rolled capacity of 4.4 million tons, will produce specialized steels for the automotive and white goods industries, according to Ternium’s website.

As the mill comes online, it signals the completion of phase 2 of Ternium’s Pesqueria Industrial Center and a total investment of more than $2.5 billion, which began with the galvanize and paint lines in 2019. With state-of-the-art technologies and more than six thousand sensors, the new hot rolling mill is fully automated, the company claims.

Ternium CEO Maximo Vedoya said during the company’s quarterly earnings call last month that the new hot strip mill would produce its first coil by June 1. And SMU has previously reported that Ternium was taking orders for this summer ahead of the mill’s startup.

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. Based in CRU’s Pittsburgh office, David can be reached at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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