Ternium ramps up Colombia mill

Steel producer Ternium S.A. has begun producing steel wire and rebar at its expanded Palmar de Varela, Colombia, facility.

An online article from Bogatá, Colombia-based Semana says the Luxembourg-based steelmaker invested some $270 million to more than triple the plant’s steel output from 220,000 metric tons per year to 740,000 metric tons.

A contractor who helped build the expanded mill says the plant has been designed to consume billet produced in the region, including steel made from scrap at electric arc furnace (EAF) mills. Carlos Alberto Salazar, director of sustainability of Colombia-based Camacol Antioquia, says, “There are many opportunities to take advantage of the surplus of ferrous materials to separate and classify them again. To the extent that industrial cycles are closed with recycled materials, local labor is generated that contributes to the economy.”

Ternium’s website indicates the plant’s added capacity initially was expected to start in April 2020, “but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the startup of the mill to be postponed for the first quarter of 2021.”