OREANDA-NEWS. OJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works ("MMK" or "the Company") (LSE: MMK) announces that it has opened a representative office in Shanghai to establish and strengthen relationships with companies in the world's second-largest economy.

The new office will be responsible for building relationships with MMK's partners and contractors in China; finding new suppliers, including for MMK's electronic trading platform; and monitoring the Chinese market to purchase equipment and raw materials for the Company's production needs.

Sergey Kolesnichenko has been appointed as MMK's General Representative in China. Previously he served as Commercial Director at MMK Metalurji, MMK Group's Turkish subsidiary.

Vitaly Bakhmetyev, Deputy CEO of MMK on Commerce, will oversee operation of the Shanghai office from the company's headquarters in Magnitogorsk, Russia.

“China is currently the largest global producer of industrial equipment and the Chinese government is actively supporting industrial development,” said Pavel Shilyaev, CEO of MMK. “The Chinese market is interesting for us and we are looking forward to establishing and developing relationships with Chinese companies, which have significant potential to meet the needs of metals companies for raw materials and equipment.”

“Opening an office in Shanghai gives us an opportunity to establish a procurement system on the Chinese market as part of our strategy to drive down our cost of sales,” added Sergey Sulimov, Deputy CEO for Finance and Economy. “A successful office in China will give MMK an additional competitive advantage over other Russian metals companies."