OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2011. Commissioning of continuous hot-dip galvanizing unit at MMK-Atakas Istanbul site marks final stage of project.

Today Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) announced the launch of the MMK-Atakas continuous hot-dip galvanizing unit in Istanbul. This marks completion of construction of the MMK-Atakas metallurgy complex, which is located at two sites: in Iskenderun and Istanbul. The construction of the Iskenderun facility was completed in spring 2011.

The Istanbul plant’s capacity is 450 ktpa of galvanised steel. A portion of the output will be sold directly to customers, while the remainder will be further processed at the colour coating line, which was commissioned in May 2011, with a capacity of 200 ktpa.

MMK already commissioned an identical hot-dip galvanizing unit in Iskenderun, giving the company greater product flexibility and the ability to produce specialized rolled metal products for customers, including home appliance manufacturers and, in the future, carmakers.

The annual production capacity of MMK-Atakas is 2.3 mt of hot-rolled coils, 750 kt of cold-rolled coils, 900 kt of galvanised coils and 400 kt of colour coated coils.

MMK Board of Directors Chairman Victor Rashnikov said: “The total investments in the project exceeded USD 2 bln. The most advanced production technology installed at MMK-Atakas has no analogues in Turkey. This new facility will meet growing Turkish demand for a range of metal products and enable us to export products to the Middle East, Mediterranean region and Europe. The fact that the construction of MMK-Atakas was not affected by the global financial crisis is noteworthy: construction was completed on schedule and within budget.”