A 50:50 joint venture formed by Russian steel giant Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and Turkish company Atakaş Şirketler Grubu with a $1.7 billion total investment has announced that a steel plant being constructed in southern Turkish city of Iskenderun has received its first output from its newly established painting line with an annual capacity of 200,000 mt.
The line in question can process pre-painted galvanized plates with 0.25-1.20 mm thickness and 1,550 mm maximum width, and galvanized plates with 0.25-3 mm thickness and 1,500 mm width.
A statement by the joint venture said that, in line with the schedule of the project, a hot dipped galvanizing line with 450,000 mt annual capacity is expected to start operating in February. The company is planning to commission a PPPL with 1,200.000 mt capacity, a cold rolling line with 750,000 mt capacity and a steel mill and a cold rolling facilities with 2.4 million mt capacity by the end of 2010. In addition, the company's steel service center and painting and galvanizing lines being built in Istanbul are to start operating in 2010.
As the first phase of the project, a steel service center in Iskenderun was commissioned at the beginning of 2009.