Posted on 13 Aug 2020
Ternium says it is gradually resuming construction of its new hot rolling mill at Pesquería industrial centre in Mexico. The long steel plant in Colombia is meanwhile awaiting commissioning, Kallanish learns from the company. Both projects have been delayed by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are making a plan to reduce our workforce during the final phase of the building of the hot-rolling mill in Pesquería,” Ternium chief executive Maximo Vedoya said during a conference with analysts. “From the peak of 4,000 people, which worked at the site in March before the coronavirus outbreak, we are probably going to have maximum 1,500 people in November or December.”
“The safety of the employees for us is the most important thing,” he continued. “And to have more than 4,000 people today with the pandemic still very high in the Monterey area is not very reasonable for safety,” The new hot rolling mill could be operational in mid-2021, Ternium estimates.
The Colombian longs mill in the municipality of Palmar de Varela in the Atlantic region was expected to start producing rebar, bar and wire rod in April. However, the mandatory quarantine delayed the commissioning of the plant.
“The project in Colombia is almost finished,” Vedoya commented. “The problem we have is that the supplier of the technology was unable to commission the equipment. I think they will be in Colombia in September and the mill would be operational by the fourth quarter of 2020.”
The Mexican hot rolling mill will have an annual production capacity of 3.7 million tonnes, while the Colombian unit’s capacity is set to reach 520,000t. The estimated combined investment value is $1.2 billion.
Source:Kallanish
