At the 5th SteelOrbis Turkish Steel Market Conference held in Istanbul on November 26, Isdemir technical support deputy director general Fikret Basbug gave a presentation about Isdemir and its modernization work.
Mr. Basbug referred to Isdemir as the largest investment project of Turkish steelmaker Erdemir. In 1975, Isdemir produced 1.1 million mt per annum, consisting mostly of long products. Thanks to investments, this output volume increased to 2.2 million mt per annum. Basbug pointed out that, in 2002, during the transfer of Isdemir to Erdemir, the most important issue was to establish a hot rolling plant with an output capacity of 1.5 million mt per annum, but this was subsequently revised to a hot strip rolling plant with an annual output capacity of 3.5 million mt. By the end of 2011, Isdemir's liquid steel production is expected to be 5.3 million mt. The hot strip rolled plant project, costing $3 billion, is now 90 percent complete, with 10,000 people working on the construction. Isdemir worked on the project with engineering enterprise Erenco, a subsidiary of Erdemir. Technology from Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Siemens has been used in the project, Mr. Basbug added.
The Isdemir official also informed his listeners about completed projects, indicating that the capacity of Isdemir's port has been increased from 12 million metric tons to 20 million metric tons per annum. He said the company's logistics center continues to operate in the Marmara region, while storage facilities have been expanded for raw material (coal and iron ore) stocks. In addition, the company's coal injection furnace has started operations.
Regarding investments to be completed in 2011, Isdemir's fourth blast furnace, the largest blast furnace in Turkey at 2,500 m³, is expected to commence operations in May 2011. Isdemir has put aside $222 million for environmental investments, with $170 million of that sum already spent, Mr. Basbug concluded his presentation by stating that, with the help of its new facilities, Isdemir aims to meet customers' needs on time and to continue its operations as a large, market-oriented integrated plant.