Peru steel mill acquires Florida shredder

Aceros Arequipa has moved into the US with the acquisition of a shredder and feeder scrap yard in the Tampa, Florida, area as the Peruvian steelmaker looks to secure raw material for its expanded mill.

Aceros Arequipa declined to specify the companies it acquired, but US market sources confirmed that the two major facilities in the deal were previously owned by Maine-based Grimmel Industries.

These include Port Manatee Scrap Metal, which has a 6,000-horsepower shredder and is near the Port Manatee deep-water port, as well as St Petersburg-based St Pete Scrap Metal, which serves as a feeder yard and nonferrous scrap processing facility.

Port Manatee is the closest US deepwater port to the expanded Panama Canal and has 10 40ft-draft berths serving container, bulk and breakbulk shippers.

Both facilities total 29 acres and are expected to collect and supply Aceros with 100,000 metric tonnes/yr of ferrous scrap metal. The company plans to export nonferrous scrap generated at the facilities primarily to Asia.

The acquisition was made through two new subsidiaries Aceros America Port Manatee and Aceros America St Pete. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Aceros Arequipa is expected to begin melting this month at its new 1.25mn t/yr electric arc furnace (EAF), with upgrades to its rolling mill expected to be completed in August.

The additional melting capacity has positioned Aceros Arequipa to grow its presence in the seaborne ferrous scrap bulk import market, with plans to import 750,000 t/yr in 2022. The company said earlier this year that it plans to import 460,000t of ferrous scrap from May-December 2021.

Peru imported 337,800t of ferrous scrap through the first-half of 2021, up by 42pc from 238,000t over the same period last year.

Since 2014, Port Manatee has shipped 45pc of its ferrous scrap to Mexico, 26pc to Turkey and 24pc to Peru. Average export volumes from the port over the last five years totaled 41,200 t/yr with the highest annual export volume of 61,600t in 2020

The port has shipped 53,500t of scrap so far this year, which included one sale to Peru and two sales to Mexico. The port first shipped ferrous scrap to Peru in 2019 and has since exported a total of 77,900t of scrap in three vessels from April 2019 through January 2021.

By Brad MacAulay