Brazilian integrated steelmaker Gerdau said this week it will invest a combined $500 million to expand capacity at its HRC and structural profile rolling mills at its Ouro Branco facility, located in the city of same name in Minas Gerais state. The company expects to invest $200 million for the HRC rolling mill expansion, and $300 million for the structural profile project.
CEO Gustavo Werneck said in a conference call this week with analysts that its HRC rolling mill in Ouro Branco is operating “at full capacity for quite some time.” Werneck said Gerdau’s distributor business, Gerdau Comercial, has the ability to distribute the exceeding supply, increasing the company’s profitability.
Gerdau plans to set up a new HRC rolling mill at its Ouro Branco plant, which will have a 250,000 mt/year capacity. With the new capacity increase, Gerdau’s total HRC capacity will increase to 1.1 million mt/year, Werneck said.
It also plans to launch a new structural profile rolling mill at its Ouro Branco facility with a 500,000 mt/year capacity. With the new project, total structural profile capacity is expected to grow to 1.1 million mt.