JSW Steel plans to invest up to $500 million in acquiring, enhancing and upgrading Acero Junction Inc., an integrated steel manufacturing unit with a potential capacity of three million tonnes per annum (MTPA), located at Ohio in the U.S., in phases.
“This takes JSW’s overall investment blueprint for the U.S. market, to produce American melt and manufactured steel, to up to $1 billion,” the company said in a statement. “The proposed investment will be made in two phases at its Ohio steel manufacturing facility.”
In the first phase, JSW will revamp and restart the electric arc furnace and the slab caster and modernise the hot strip mill at an investment of $250 million.
Second phase
In the second phase, depending upon the economic viability and prevailing market conditions, JSW would evaluate the possibility of adding another electric arc furnace as well as additional manufacturing equipment at the hot strip mill to make the Ohio facility a fully integrated unit with three MTPA capacity.
The proposed investment in the second phase could be in the range of up to $250 million, subject to feasibility studies and necessary approvals, said the statement.
The integrated steel manufacturing unit was acquired as part of the recently concluded Acero Junction Holdings Inc. deal.
A certificate, evidencing the proposed investments by JSW Steel, was signed by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Jayant Acharya, board member and director (commercial and marketing), JSW Steel.
Commenting on the investments, Mr. Parth Jindal, director-JSW Steel (USA) Inc. said, “JSW is pleased to share its intention for additional investments in the U.S. market. It is our fundamental belief that due to the rich availability of scrap metal and abundance of natural gas, making steel through EAF route is highly competitive in USA from a global standpoint. Over the past few months, we have announced the backward integration of our plate and pipe mill in Baytown, Texas.”
Product range
“Through our acquisition of Acero Junction, we further our product range as we will be able to supply American melted and manufactured hot rolled coils. It is our intention to further augment our capacity in Acero Junction over the next few years and, subject to necessary approvals, to take the combined capacity of JSW USA to four MTPA (three MTPA at Acero and one MTPA at Baytown), which will be 100% American melted and manufactured,” he said.
The proposed investment by JSW Steel follows the memorandum signed by JSW Steel (USA) Inc. in March 2018 to consider an investment of up to $500 million for expanding its operations in Texas, USA.
“We are excited to welcome JSW Steel to Ohio,” said Kristi Tanner, senior managing director – JobsOhio, “Its planned investment in Acero Junction Holdings will bring cutting-edge technology that will revitalise the facility and bring good-paying jobs to the community,” he added.