Nucor Corporation announced today that Nucor-JFE Steel Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., located in Silao, Guanajuato in central Mexico, has begun operating its continuous galvanizing line, which will produce hot-dip galvanized sheet steel for the automotive market.
The hot-dip galvanized sheet steel production facility has a production capacity of 400,000 tons annually. It can produce sheet thickness from 0.4 mm to 2.6 mm and widths of 800 mm to 1,850 mm. In a press release, the company said Nucor-JFE has begun trial production and will move toward full-scale sales and production once customer approvals have been obtained.
The company said Nucor-JFE is “well-positioned to serve the large number of automakers who have built facilities in central Mexico.” Automotive production in Mexico is expected to continue to grow, Nucor said, and the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) increases the amount of North American content required in cars and trucks to avoid tariffs imposed by the United States. As such, Nucor and JFE will reportedly each supply an equal amount of substrate to be processed at the new facility.