ArcelorMittal announced the expansion of its Vega plant in São Francisco do Sul, Santa Catarina, hoping to increase sales of high-value-added coatings and cold-rolled plate products in the Brazilian domestic market.

To strengthen its presence in Brazil, ArcelorMittal has invested R$2 billion in the Vega expansion project since 2021. The cold rolling mill expansion includes a new continuous galvanizing and annealing line, which will increase production capacity from 1.6 million tons/year to 2.2 million tons/year.

The Vega plant will be the first outside Europe to produce Magnelis, a flat carbon steel product coated on both sides with a zinc-aluminum-magnesium alloy.

Since 2020, the company has been importing this kind of steel from Europe supplying the Brazilian market, and establishing a solid customer base in Brazil.