JSW to invest $500 mn in Acero Junction

JSW Steel on Friday said that it had proposed an investment of 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, in Ohio, USA.

The ramp-up will be in phases. In the first phase, JSW will revamp and restart the electric arc furnace and the slab caster and modernise the hot strip mill. The proposed investment, including the cost of acquisition, is expected to be around $250 million.

In the second phase, depending upon the economic viability and prevailing market conditions, JSW will 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 million tonnes per annum capacity. The proposed investment in Phase-II could be in the range of up to $250 million, subject to feasibility studies and necessary approvals.

The integrated steel manufacturing unit in Ohio was acquired as part of the recently concluded Acero Junction Holdings Inc deal. A certificate outlining the proposed investments by JSW Steel was signed by Wilbur Ross, secretary, US Department of Commerce, and Jayant Acharya, board member and director (commercial and marketing), JSW Steel, at SelectUSA Investment Summit.

This takes JSW Steel’s overall investment blueprint for the US market to produce American melt and manufactured steel to up to $1 billion. In March, JSW announced $500 million investment at the Texas facility.

JSW Steel (USA) operates one of the widest steel plate and pipe mills in Baytown, Texas.

Parth Jindal, director, JSW Steel (USA), said, “It is our fundamental belief that due to rich availability of scrap metal and abundance natural gas, making steel through EAF route is highly competitive in the USA from a global standpoint. Over the past few months, we have announced backward integration of our plate pipe mill in Baytownm Texas. 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.”

The integrated steel-making unit in Ohio was acquired as part of the recently concluded Acero Junction Holdings deal