On February 19, an explosion happened at the Balakovo steel mill in Russia which injured three people. However, according to official information, it will not lead to production losses, though some market sources claimed earlier that the explosion happened at the EAF site and that damages should be considerable. “It will not affect current production. Everything happened at the air separation station during a test run of equipment. This site itself is not currently involved in production. This is additional equipment which, after commissioning, should increase our production,” a representative of the mill told SteelOrbis.
The Balakovo steel mill is a part of Novostal-M group and is capable of producing over one million mt of steel per year, while the plant has an expansion project for an additional 1.2 million mt of annual capacity. Though no official information is available, the expansion is likely to be postponed.
Novostal-M includes Abinskiy EAF plant with a total capacity of up to three million mt per year. The main products are longs with the focus on wire rod. The mill exports around 200,000 mt of wire rod per month, while a small part (30,000-40,000 mt) is traded in the local market.