The government of San Luis Potosí announced that US-based steel producer Steel Dynamics bought a 280-hectare piece of land for which it will pay more than MXN 2.0 billion, a figure that at today's exchange rates is equivalent to about $103 million, according to a report from local press.
The third largest steel company in the United States, Steel Dynamics already has the German vehicle assembly company BMW as a client in San Luis Potosí. General Motors also has operations in the state, reflecting an existing demand market for automotive steel.
According to press reports, SDI will pay for the land in two parts, one part this year and the other part in 2024. The land is where Ford Motors would have built its new assembly plant in Mexico, which it canceled at the beginning of 2017; the property has infrastructure such as railways, road access, natural gas, water and electricity connections.
Steel Dynamics is already present in Mexico through two acquisitions of metal scrap processing companies. In August 2020, it paid $60 million for 100 percent of the shares of Zimmer SA de CV, with headquarters in Monterrey, Nuevo León (Mexico) and six scrap processing plants, and at the end of 2022, it paid $90 million for Roca Acero, another metal scrap processor also headquartered in Monterrey.