On July 13, 2007, Ukrainian steelmaker ISTIL celebrated its eighth anniversary with a ceremony held in Donetsk, Ukraine, which included the participation of its customers, bankers, shippers, lawyers, suppliers and traders - both local and foreign. The event marked the eighth anniversary of the Donetsk mill's name change to ISTIL (Ukraine), while 11 years have passed since the actual foundation of the mill.
The day's program, which got underway in the morning with the opening ceremony, proceeded with speeches made by ISTIL chief Dr. Mohammed Zahoor and by the mayor and other representatives of the local administration, followed by the presentation of awards to successful ISTIL employees. Next, a trip to the newly-inaugurated oxygen block and annealing furnace at the blooming mill was organized for the guests, followed later by a festive reception. Answering questions from SteelOrbis at the reception, Dr. Zahoor stated that the reason for the company's achievement of such big successes within a very short time is that they follow a customer-oriented policy and that they are able to direct their production in line with customer requirements. Dr Zahoor also remarked that ISTIL is the only EAF mill in Ukraine able to make tailor-made production, and underlined that the ability to produce in various grades, lengths and sizes, as well as the ability to produce alloyed rounds in bigger sizes, are among ISTIL's biggest advantages.
In addition, Dr. Zahoor announced a $100 million-worth, three-year long investment program for the technical updating of the mill. In the framework of the investment, ISTIL is to introduce new technologies in its production process. However, Dr. Zahoor pointed out that this investment program is not directed towards increasing the mill's production capacities but concentrates on the technological, logistic and infrastructure improvements which in turn will help increase the output of the mill.