In late April this year, one of Ukraine's most modern enterprises for the production of galvanized steel in coils and polymer coated steel, Metals and Polymers, was inaugurated in the town of Alchevsk in the country's Lugansk region.
The plant was built in less than two years with an investment of UAH 400 million ($50.5 million), with Alfa Bank (Ukraine), the main financial partner, providing financing of more than $40 million for the project. The plant is equipped with two new coil-coating lines, supplied by Australia's Bronx International. Commissioning is being carried out in two phases, with the first line already having been commissioned.
In March this year, Metals and Polymers commenced production at its painting line. The galvanizing line start-up is planned to be carried out in the second quarter of 2010.
By reaching its designed capacity of 100,000 mt of galvanized and polymer coated coils per year with the completion the first phase of the project, and achieving an overall capacity of 300,000 mt per year with the completion of the second phase of the project, Metals and Polymers intends to satisfy about 50 percent of demand in the Ukrainian construction and machine building market.
Annually, Ukraine imports more than 250,000 mt of galvanized and polymer coated products.