Jackson Free Press

At a press conference yesterday, Gov. Haley Barbour announced that German company, Wilh. Schulz GMBH, has selected Tunica, Miss., just south of Memphis, for a new pipe manufacturing facility. The plant is estimated at $300 million, creating 500 new jobs over the next five years. The company will make an initial investment of $80 million and 200 jobs.

"We are delighted Schulz has chosen a site in the Mississippi Delta as the location for its first North American production facility," Barbour said in a statement. "I am proud to welcome this industry leader to our state, and I commend company officials for their commitment to doing business in Mississippi and for the jobs they are creating."

The governor is asking lawmakers to approve $15 million in bonds as an incentive for the company to open their plant in the state. Additionally, the incentive package will include a $20 million loan guarantee, reports ABC News. The average job will pay approximately $32,000 annually, Barbour said.

Schultz produces and supplies stainless steel and alloy steel seamless pipe products to the oil and gas sectors, and the nuclear and fossil fuel power plant industry. The pipes to be produced in Mississippi represent a new process and will be manufactured exclusively in the Tunica plant.