Mexico’s Grupo Simec announced plans to invest approximately $500 million in a 500,000-ton-capacity greenfield steel plant in Brazil. Grupo Simec will carry out the investment through its California-based subsidiaries, Simec Steel and Simec USA. The construction process is expected to take 20 months, with plant operations for the first stage scheduled to start in the second half of 2013. Two additional stages are planned for the future. Based in Guadalajara, Grupo Simec manufactures and distributes a wide range of special-bar-quality and structural steel products, primarily in North America.