Blast furnace upgrade by Tulachermet
The major Russian pig iron producer Tulachermet closed its blast furnace No. 3 on July 8, 2003 for upgrade and relinig. The furnace has an annual capacity of 1.5 million tons that accounts for 50% of mill's total production. After the renovation, the furnace's production capacity is going to increase by some 20%. This expansion plan to be financed by company profits and some short term bank credits will cost to Tulachermet around $50 million. Due to western companies and technologies' high costs, the company decided to use Russian companies for the expansion plan. The reconstruction is scheduled to last for three months causing a production loss of around 400'000 tons of pig iron. In additon, Tulachermet has expanded its annual pig iron production from 2 million tons to 2.6 million tons in the last three years. Furthermore, the company produced 1.46 million tons of pig iron in the first six months of the year which was 1.24 million tons exported.