The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced that its subsidiary MMK Trading House has signed a contract with Italian producer of steelmaking machinery and plants Danieli for the supply of a 15,000 mt per month capacity tension (stretch) leveler for MMK's coating shop.
The new tension leveler is to significantly improve the quality of MMK's tinplate and to reduce its flatness to up to 1.5-2 mm, instead of 5 mm under the old GOST 13345-85 standard. The project is to be implemented within 16 months.
Accordingly, the increased quality of MMK's tinplate will also help MMK Trading House to boost its sale volumes. By the end of 2012, the company plans to reach sales levels of 160,000 mt of tinplate. The installation of the new tension leveler is expected to allow MMK Trading House to increase its sales by about 30,000 mt per year. According to the company's statement, the installation of this unit is the first stage of a larger project for the comprehensive reconstruction of MMK's tinplate line, which will allow new qualitative characteristics to be achieved for this product.
The capacity of Russia's tinplate market is estimated at about 300,000 mt per year, of which more than half is accounted for by MMK, which is the country's only manufacturer of this product.