On July 21, the Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) announced that its Ekaterinburg-based subsidiary Verkh-Isetsky Iron and Steel Works (VIZ-Stal) has started to implement a supplementary investment program for the reconstruction of a number of its production facilities. The investment program in question is expected to result in better steel quality and in improved electrical steel competitiveness in the global market.
According to the company's release, the arrangements planned include the reconstruction of cooling facilities on the production floors, the reconstruction of a heat-resistant application unit and the installation of metering equipment at the rectifying facilities. The overall project is worth Ruble 190 million (approx. US$6.117 million).
Also in July, VIZ-Stal launched a laser jet for processing finished products, improving the magnetic properties of rolled steel by 10 to 12 percent. Investment in this project, implemented as part of NLMK's technical upgrade program, exceeds Ruble 120 million (approx. US$3.862 million).
VIZ-Stal is a producer of cold rolled electrical steel and is the largest producer of grain-oriented electrical steel in Russia, reads NLMK's release. Its share of global transformer steel production is almost 11 percent, while it holds a 56 percent share of the Russian market for transformer steel. Over 80 percent of its products are exported. The plant's annual production capacity is about 200,000 metric tons of electrical steel.