The location has yet to be determined, but the plant’s slabs will support the company’s new Pesquería, Mexico, hot rolling mill, which came on-line in mid-2021.  

The single-furnace steel shop will have an annual capacity of 2.6 million tons, and the direct reduced iron (DRI) module will have an annual capacity of 2.1 million tons. The plant also will include a port facility for raw material handling. 

Commissioning is scheduled to take place in the first half of 2026.

“The implementation of the USMCA trade agreement and recent trends of nearshoring manufacturing capacity in the steel value chain have made the USMCA region an attractive destination for continued investment,” said Ternium chief executive Máximo Vedoya. 

“In a market that is increasingly demanding differentiated products and services, this new project will advance the continued integration of our industrial system and reinforce Ternium’s position as a leading steel supplier in the region,” he added.  

Not only will the plant support the company’s compliance with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s melted and poured requirements, it will help Ternium achieve its 2030 decarbonization goals, Vedoya said, noting that the DRI module will include carbon capture capabilities and will be built to switch between natural gas and hydrogen consumption. 

In a separate US$160 million investment, the company will build a 72-megawatt wind farm in Argentina to support its plant operations there. 

“Ternium expects that once the wind farm is operational it will replace approximately 65% of the electricity that its Argentine subsidiary currently purchases from third-party providers. The company also anticipates that the wind farm will help its Argentine subsidiary reduce its CO₂ emissions by 92,500 tons per year,” it said.
 
The wind farm is expected to be operational in the second half of 2024.