Russian mining and steel group Mechel has announced that the Expert Council of Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry’s Industrial Development Fund has approved a loan for its subsidiary Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant to implement a project for production of rails, beams and other structural steel products meant for export markets.
According to Mechel’s statement, the project’s cost totals RUB 1.52 billion ($27.10 million), including RUB 300 million ($5.35 million) to be loaned by the Industrial Development Fund. The project includes acquiring technological equipment in order to set up manufacturing of products according to European standards on the basis of Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant’s universal rolling mill.
Part of the export-oriented products within the project’s framework will be produced this year. The project is planned to be fully launched in the second quarter of 2019. Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant had already received a European certificate of compliance for its beams, and the plant has the status of a potential rail supplier for Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s railroad operator.