Hot rolling equipment and hot rolling method

Hot rolling equipment for hot rolling a steel material containing Cu, the hot rolling equipment comprising:

• a heating furnace that heats the steel material to a predetermined temperature;
• a rough rolling apparatus including a plurality of rolling mills that rough roll the steel material that has been heated in the heating furnace;
• a finish rolling apparatus that finish rolls the steel material that has been rough rolled by the rough rolling apparatus;
• and
• a removal apparatus that removes a target region including cracks caused by a Cu-rich layer that is present at a surface side of the steel material that is being rough rolled or has been rough rolled and in which a concentration of Cu components is higher than a concentration of Cu components in a base material of the steel material,
• wherein the removal apparatus is provided downstream of a rolling mill located furthest upstream among the plurality of rolling mills in the rough rolling apparatus in a transport direction of the steel material and upstream of the finish rolling apparatus.