Steel Mills

JSW USA Underway With Big Upgrades to Texas Plate Mill

November 3, 2021

JSW Steel (USA) Inc. has launched the second phase of a $260 million project aimed at refurbishing its plate mill in Baytown, Texas.

The upgrades will allow the Baytown mill to better compete in on- and offshore wind tower, agriculture, construction and storage tank markets as well as in other sectors for which surface finish is a critical selling point, the company said.

JSW USA The latest expansion will include the addition of a 4-Hi finishing mill, pre-leveler, accelerated cooling system/direct quench (ACC/DQ), cooling beds and a new roll shop.

The work is scheduled to be finished in the second half of 2023, JSW USA said.

“Once this project is completed, it will put JSW USA in a position to deliver higher quality products as well as enter new markets,” company CEO Mark Bush said in a statement.

“The continuation of these strategic capital upgrades at our facilities in the USA will further strengthen JSW USA’s position as a high-quality, low-cost provider of melted-and-manufactured products,” company director Parth Jindal said.

JSW USA is a subsidiary of Indian steelmaker JSW Steel Ltd. JSW Steel, in turn, is part of Indian conglomerate JSW Group, which is also a big player in energy, infrastructure and cement.

While JSW Steel has a limited presence in the U.S. – a sheet mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio, and the plate and pipe mill in Baytown – it is among the largest steel producers in the world.

The Ohio mill has an electric arc furnace (EAF). The Texas plant does not currently have melt capacity. But Baytown can roll slabs melted in Mingo Junction to participate in certain government work that requires steel to be melted and poured domestically.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.