NAS Announces $244M Expansion at Kentucky Plant

The project, which will add 70 new jobs to the plant, was prompted by increased customer demand for stainless products.

 “We are proud to lead America’s stainless steel economy, support our national security with our production, and create great jobs for our region,” NAS CEO Cristobal Fuentes said in a statement.

“Our latest expansion will bring more clean, sustainable, and American-made stainless to consumers, and directly compete with the subsidized imports of stainless,” he added.

NAS said the continued importation of subsidized stainless steel—and the accompanying national security threats—made the expansion a priority.

The Ghent-based company said it will build a new cold-rolling mill, add roll grinders, and perform an extensive upgrade of its annealing and pickling lines to support the new rolling mill. It will also add a new temper mill and expand the melt-shop building to include a 400-metric-ton crane.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear lauded the project.

“I’m excited to announce more growth in Kentucky’s metals industry with this latest investment from North American Stainless,” he said.

NAS is owned by Acerinox SA, a stainless steel manufacturing conglomerate group based in Madrid, Spain.

By Ethan Bernard, ethan@steelmarketupdate.com