Germany's largest steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp AG plans to build a $2.9 billion carbon and
stainless steel plant in the southern US. A $50 million project development budget for the
construction of the new plant has been approved by the supervisory board.
The new facility will include a plant for hot rolling which will be used to process slabs from a new CSA steel mill in
Brazil. There will also be cold rolling and hot-dip coating capacities and
stainless steel facilities as well.
The $2.3 billion carbon plant is expected to produce 4.5 million metric tons (mt) annually along with a $636 million melt shop producing 1 million metric tons of
slab, 325,000 mt of cold strip and 100,000 mt of pickled hot strip.
Along with talks of a new plant, the company is reorganizing and selling the North American body and chassis business. Also, the ThyssenKrupp
Automotive and ThyssenKrupp Technologies segments are merging and the company will now be divided into five segments: Steel,
Stainless, Technologies, Elevator, and Services.
A decision has not been made for a location of the new plant, however three potential states have been identified as a possibility, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
ThyssenKrupp will still continue negotiations to acquire Canadian steel producer Dofasco. ThyssenKrupp signed an agreement with Mittal in January 2006 to sell Dofasco to ThyssenKrupp AG in the event that Mittal gained Arcelor.