Company News Oct 7, 2010 12:00 PM
Stainless steel production starts at ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA in Alabama
Work on building the new site to produce carbon and stainless steel flat products began in 2007 in partnership with ThyssenKrupp Steel USA. The capital investment for the integrated stainless mill in Calvert is around 1.4 billion US dollars. In preparation for the hot commissioning of the stainless equipment, the first white coils were shipped to the USA by ThyssenKrupp Nirosta in June 2010. Following startup, production on the cold rolling mill is now being ramped up step by step using material supplied from ThyssenKrupp’s stainless mills in Europe.
Construction of the other units is either planned or in progress. For example, the foundation works for the hot-rolled annealing and pickling line began in January 2010, with startup scheduled for fall 2011. The equipment in place and still to be built will give ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA a unique selling proposition with the widest material available on the US market. The construction and ramp-up of the remaining units is being kept flexible. This also applies to the startup of the melt shop.
ThyssenKrupp is already well placed on the NAFTA market for stainless steel flat products. In the US its market share is roughly 12 percent, in Canada over 15 percent, and in Mexico the company is market leader with more than 70 percent. Up to now, most shipments have come from the ThyssenKrupp Mexinox mill in San Luis Potosí and the European plants of the ThyssenKrupp Stainless group. Marketing is handled by an efficient sales company in Chicago, which is now also offering customers the products made by ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA in Calvert.