OREANDA-NEWS. OJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works ("MMK" or “the Company”) announces that in 1H 2015, it increased metal shipments to the automotive industry by 20% year-on-year to 215,000 tonnes.

MMK managed to strengthen its position on the market despite the significant decline in Russia’s car-making sector. Shipments of MMK’s cold-rolled products increased within the process of acceptance (approval) of the Company’s automotive sheet by leading global automotive corporations that have assembly plants in Russia. In 1H 2015, MMK supplied 6,189 tonnes of metal to these companies, as compared to 251 tonnes in 1H 2014. MMK CEO Pavel Shilyaev said that “essentially MMK switched from pilot shipments to industrial shipments” of metal to global car brands that have their own assembly facilities in Russia.

MMK is strengthening its positions on the automotive market through meeting the needs of its customers, expanding shipments of high-quality products and developing a promising production mix incorporating a variety of grades and sizes. The Company continues to work with leading Russian and foreign carmakers on metal acceptance.
MMK’s capabilities for the production of metal for the automotive industry significantly improved with the commissioning of a state-of-the-art cold-rolled products plant (Mill 2000) in 2011-2012. The plant can produce cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanized products that meet the highest international standards for surface quality, thickness, and it can also apply ferrozinc and phosphate coverings to protect them from corrosion. Thanks to Mill 2000’s considerable cold-rolled product production capacities, MMK can produce high-tensile DP, TRIP and CP steel, which in turn sparks interest from the automotive industry.