The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced its plan to request credits from Russian banks, in order to continue the construction of new plate rolling mill 5000, which is the company's main investment program, and to commission the mill in 2009.
According to MMK's vice president for sales Vladimir Shmakov, the company's management is justified in stating that all the production of the plate mill will be required in the Russian domestic market. The new mill, with an annual capacity of 1.5 million mt, is to produce plates with 4,800 mm width and with X120 strength characteristics for the oil and gas, shipbuilding, bridge building and machine building industries. "Agreements with TMK and Chelyabinsk Pipe Mill (ChTPZ) to buy our products are in place, and there is also an agreement on cooperation with Gazprom regarding production of large-diameter pipes," Mr. Vladimir Shmakov added.
Currently, MMK is continuing the installation of the main equipment for the mill 5000 at the plant's flat rolling workshop No. 9. Overall, the workshop requires more than 43,000 mt of equipment, of which 17,000 mt have already been delivered to the production site. Moreover, MMK has completed the installation of 16 of 23 cranes produced by the Chinese company DHI. The rest of the mill's equipment, supplied by German plantmaker SMS Demag, is being brought in parts by railway and is expected to arrive by the end of the current year.