Photo Courtesy of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development
Hyundai is preparing to begin construction on a massive $5.8 billion steel mill in Ascension Parish that is expected to create thousands of jobs and make Louisiana a major supplier of automotive-grade steel.
The Hyundai-Posco steel facility in Donaldsonville still needs a final air pollution permit from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality before construction can get underway.
Once completed, the plant is expected to create approximately 1,300 permanent jobs and another 4,100 indirect jobs.
Governor Jeff Landry says an economic development trip to South Korea in October 2024 played an important role in bringing the Hyundai project to Louisiana.
“We don’t sit around waiting for companies to find us, we went after them, we went and found the biggest economic opportunities in the world,” Landry said.
Landry says the Hyundai project is part of a broader economic development push that has attracted more than $250 billion in new capital investment to Louisiana.
The governor says that figure is $85 billion more than Texas and argues companies are choosing Louisiana because of the state’s workforce and ability to support major industrial projects.
“We have the energy, we have the ports, we have the rail, we have the natural resources, but most importantly we have the greatest natural resource and that is our people,” Landry said.
Steel to supply U.S. auto plants
The Hyundai-Posco facility is expected to produce approximately 2.8 million metric tons of ultra-low-carbon, automotive-grade steel each year.
William Kimmitt, Undersecretary for International Trade with the Louisiana Department of Commerce, says the steel will help supply Hyundai Motor Group’s vehicle assembly operations in the United States, as well as other American automakers.
“You can’t have strong automotive industry without steel, and you can’t be truly economically secure if you depend on other countries for one of the most fundamental materials underlying so many critical industries,” Kimmitt said.
The project is expected to strengthen the domestic supply chain for automotive steel while reducing the industry’s reliance on imported materials.
The Hyundai-Posco steel plant is currently scheduled to open in 2029.
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