Turkish integrated steelmaker Kardemir has announced that it has started three investments simultaneously aiming to increase its production capacity to 3.5 million mt. The company halted operations at its blast furnace No. 4 on Monday, June 10, as well as operations at the converter No. 2 to increase its capacity to 125 mt, while it has also halted operations at its lime plant No. 1 to increase its capacity to 425 mt.
Hüseyin Soykan, general manager of Kardemir, said that the blast furnace No. 4 is scheduled to be reignited within 106 days after the revamping, while the revamping of the converter at the melt shop and of the lime plant will take 124 days to complete. He went on to say that they are planning to commission the continuous casting machine No. 4 on October 15. With all these investments completed, Kardemir’s liquid steel production capacity will reach 2,900,000 mt compared to a liquid steel production volume of 2,413,000 mt in 2018. Subsequently, Kardemir expects to increase billet shipments and finished steel production at its rolling mills as well.