OREANDA-NEWS. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works and the SMS group (Germany) concluded a supply contract for equipment for a new continuous galvanizing line (CGL).

The contract value is above EUR 25 million. The production capacity of the new plant is more than 360 thousand tons per year. The first coil of galvanized steel is expected to be rolled in just two years. According to the contract, the German machinery and plant construction group will not only supply the required equipment, spare parts, and technical documentation to OJSC MMK, but will also render training and programming services, will supervise the erection, and prepare the plant for commissioning.

The CGL will be arranged on site at Strip Rolling Plant #11, which accommodates the state-of-the-art cold rolling complex of OJSC MMK (Cold Mill 2000). The plant is designed to output cold-rolled hot-dip galvanized products for the construction industry. With this plant, the MMK production capacity of galvanized rolled products will increase by over 20%. On top of this, an additional 70 working places for technological and maintenance personnel are planned.

The document was signed by Director General of OJSC MMK, Mr.Pavel Shilyaev, Member of the Board of SMS group Mr. Dieter Rosenthal, and Executive Vice President of SMS group Mr. Meinhard Remberg. In his comments on signing of this contract, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC MMK, Mr. Viktor Rashnikov, noted that the new project should be relevant from the point of view of import replacement policy, as the present Russian market of galvanized rolled products depends by almost 25% on imports (with a market capacity of 3.3 million tons, the amount of imported steel makes up 0.8 million tons). “Besides, this project will be implemented in line with MMK’s strategic objectives to increase the output of deep processing products with higher added value,” underlined Mr. Rashnikov.

As was stated by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SMS group, Dr. Heinrich Weiss, the new contract will mark another page in the history of fruitful cooperation between his company and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, which has lasted for more than 80 years.