Russia’s Ashinskiy Metallurgical Works to restart earlier OHFs

Russian steel producer Ashinskiy Metallurgical Works (Ashinskiy) has decided to restart on January 28 operations at two of its three open hearth furnaces (OHF), which were stopped on December 22 for scheduled repair works and were planned to be recommissioned on February 1.
 
Accordingly, the OHF repair works are to be finished five days earlier, as Ashinskiy's flat rolling mill No. 1 has received additional orders for steel plates (orders for 28,500 mt as opposed to the predicted 10,000 mt), and also as the plant's current reserves of slabs are not sufficient.
 
In addition, Ashinskiy is to carry out a two-day urgent overhaul at its flat rolling mill No. 1, which will allow the plant to cut steel sheets of 12 m in width and 30 mm in thickness.
 
In 2008, Ashinskiy produced 652,321 mt of crude steel, exceeding its production plan for the year by 0.6 percent, and manufactured 480,224 mt of rolled steel products. The plant's total deliveries of steel plate amounted to 436,824 mt, including 317,821 mt supplied in the domestic market - up 4.5 percent year on year.