Steel Mills

ArcelorMittal Mexico's Hot Strip Mill Ramping Up on Schedule

Written by David Schollaert

December 15, 2021

ArcelorMittal Mexico anticipates a run rate of roughly 70% by year’s end at its new hot strip mill in the Michoacan province.

Executives lauded the production ramp-up of the new 2.75-million-ton hot strip mill during the company’s earnings call late last week, noting the facility’s output could be around 1.50 to 1.75 million tons in 2022 at its steelmaking complex in Lazaro Cardenas.

“The ramp-up is progressing well,” said Genuino Christino, Arcelor’s executive VP and CFO. “Our expectation is that in the second half we should be reaching a 60% to 70% run rate.”

Due to the steadily increased run rate, the Luxembourg-based steelmaker anticipates a strong earnings contribution for the 2022 calendar year from the steelmaking complex.

“By the end of 2023, we should be really running full out,” added Christino. “We clearly expect good progress this year, good contribution, and then more in 2023.”

ArcelorMittal’s new hot strip mill is one of a several sheet capacity expansions underway in North America. Details on that new capacity can be found on SMU’s new capacity table. The more than 20 million tons of new capacity displayed there should be read in conjunction with SMU’s blast furnace status table. The latter provides some important context: how much integrated capacity has been idled over the last decade.

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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