OREANDA-NEWS. Byelorussian Steel Works (BMZ trademark) is ready to export the first batch of seamless hot-rolled pipes. Ten tonnes of seamless hot-rolled pipes shipped to Poland on October 3, head of the company’s pipe-rolling workshop Aleksei Gontar told, reported the press-centre of Gomelinvest.

BMZ started producing hot-rolled pipes in July 2007 after launching a pipe-rolling installation able to turn out 250,000 tonnes of pipes annually. The new make will be used in oil and gas industry, mechanical engineering, utilities. Some 85% of the pipes will be exported.

According to Aleksei Gontar foreign customers have already shown much interest in the new make. The company has contracted to ship pipes to mechanical engineering companies in Poland and Italy. Negotiations with customers from several other countries are close to the end.

Completing the installation and tuning works and ramping the output up to the designed capacity are the key goals now. In September the new facility rolled out 660 tonnes of pipes, with plans to increase the figure up to 2,000 tonnes in October. By mid-2008 the figure is supposed to reach 12,000 tonnes of pipes monthly.

Along with beefing up the output the company will be tuning the equipment used to produce sleeve joints and to incise pipes for oil industry in order to raise the end product value by 15-20%.

In January-August 2007 Byelorussian Steel Works increased steel output by 4,4% up on the same period of 2006 to 1,54 million tonnes. The company turned out 187,200 tonnes of hardware, 16,9% up. The export swelled by 38,6% to make up $873,7 million.

The steel mill was founded in 1984. At present national unitary enterprise Byelorussian Steel Works is a major exporter shipping its make to over 50 countries across the globe. Export accounts for more than 85% of the company’s output. BMZ specialises in cast sections, rolled sections, profiled iron, reinforcing bars, metal cord and other kinds of wire as well as seamless hot-rolled pipes.