Company serving steel industry moving to western Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – PRCO America Inc., a Chinese manufacturer of specialty refractory brick for the steel industry, plans to open its first U.S. production facility next year in Graves County in western Kentucky near the Tennessee state line.

The $5.5 million investment will creat 32 jobs, Gov. Andy Beshear said in making the announcement.

PRCO executives plan to establish a state-of-the-art refractory plant in an approximately 35,000-square-foot building in Hickory, an unincorporated community six miles north of Mayfield, the state said in a release.

The company will also use three other buildings on the site for various purposes, including office space. The operation will produce custom-sized resin-bonded magnesia graphite refractory brick, which steel mills use to line their furnaces and transfer ladles.

The facility could begin production by the end of 2020.

West Kentucky stood out nationally as their ideal location, PRCO leaders said, based on its proximity to the Mississippi River for cost-effective delivery of raw materials, as well its central location to America’s steel producers.

The plant also will source a unique raw material, making its products longer-lasting and instrumental in producing cleaner-quality steel.

“We expect to fill this plant to full capacity quickly,” said Ricky Wang, president of PRCO America. “Refractory made using this new raw material is already showing a 15% to 25% or greater improvement in performance for our customers in products we imported into the USA to qualify the new formulations in American steel producing operations.

Founded in Pittsburgh in 2008, PRCO America imports a full line of refractories for iron and steel making. The Kentucky plant will give the company both U.S. production and increased flexibility for manufacturing and delivery timing. PRCO America is a division of Puyang Refractories Group Co., one of the largest publically traded Chinese refractory companies.

The company’s customers include minimill and integrated steel producers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) in April preliminarily approved a 15-year incentive agreement with the company under the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based agreement can provide up to $550,000 in tax incentives based on the company’s investment of $5.49 million and annual targets of:

• Creation and maintenance of 32 Kentucky-resident, full-time jobs across 15 years;
• Paying an average hourly wage of $24.50 including benefits across those jobs

By meeting its annual targets over the agreement term, the company can be eligible to keep a portion of the new tax revenue it generates. The company may claim eligible incentives against its income tax liability and/or wage assessments.

In addition, PRCO can receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the Kentucky Skills Network, companies can receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives.