POSCO have pursued investment opportunities in other developing countries such as Vietnam and Mexico. It was announced in August 2006 that POSCO will build a large-scale steel mill in southern Vietnam. POSCO plans to build the US$1 billion plant in two phases for hot-rolled by the end of 2012 and cold rolled products by the time of December 2009. When completed, the mill is expected to produce three-million tons of steel products annually. Posco also plans to build a $250 million plant in the city of Altamira, Mexico, to produce 400,000 tons of galvanized steel sheet a year for automakers. The will be Posco's first wholly owned steel-plate plant in North America. Posco began construction in early 2008, and started operations in 2009, producing galvanized and galvannealed steel.