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Gerdau Expands Investments in Ouro Branco
07/20/2010 - Gerdau is making a new investment at its steelworks in the city of Ouro Branco (state of Minas Gerais): its first hot-rolled coil mill to be installed in Brazil. A new flat steel rolling mill also will be installed for the production of heavy plates. Joint capacity of these two rolling mills will initially be 1.9 million tonnes/year.
Gerdau recently concluded the expansion of its steelworks in the city of Ouro Branco (state of Minas Gerais) to 4.5 million tonnes/year of crude steel capacity. Now the company is making a new investment at this same unit: its first hot-rolled coil mill to be installed in Brazil. Another new flat steel rolling mill will be installed in Ouro Branco for the production of heavy plates, as previously announced.
Together, the two rolling mills total R$2.4 billion in investments, reaching an installed capacity of 1.9 million tonnes/year. The investment is supported by the Minas Gerais State Government. Gerdau notes that the joint capacity of these two rolling mills may increase to 3 million tonnes/year in the future.
“We are investing in order to meet the Brazilian and global markets in line with the growth trend for steel demand in the next years. With these new rolling mills starting up, Gerdau will offer to the market a new line of products from the manufacturing of flat steel, thus, better meeting the needs of its clients,” said André B. Gerdau Johannpeter, Gerdau’s CEO.
The main equipment has already been acquired, and startup is estimated for 2012. Both products—hot coils and heavy plates—target the oil, shipbuilding, civil construction (metallic construction), and heavy equipment (machinery and tools) industries.
In addition to these two new rolling mills, Gerdau previously announced that it is investing in the expansion of its structural profiles production capacity, from 540,000 to 700,000 tonnes/year, an investment of R$100 million, with startup estimated for 2011.
The company is also investing R$352 million on the expansion of its iron ore production in the state of Minas Gerais, which is expected to reach 6.6 million tonnes/year in 2012, considering the mining activities of Várzea do Lopes and Miguel Burnier.
The announced initiatives are part of Gerdau’s investment plan of R$9.5 billion for the 2010-2014 period, with 80% of this amount (R$7.6 billion) being geared toward operations in Brazil.
Gerdau is a leading producer of long steel in the Americas and one of the world's largest suppliers of special long steel. It has plants in 14 countries spanning the Americas, Europe and Asia, with total installed capacity of more than 25 million tonnes of steel. It also is the largest recycler in Latin America.
