The only steel company in the Baltic states, Latvia-based Liepajas Metalurgs, plans at the end of 2011 to commission its new electric arc furnace (EAF) and ladle furnace, which will allow it to stop its three open hearth furnaces, Liepajas Metalurgs' chairman Valerijs Terentjevs has said in an interview given to Telegraf.lv.
Accordingly, as part of the second stage of Liepajas Metalurgs' program for the modernization of its steelmaking facilities, the commissioning of a new 100-mt EAF will allow the plant to increase its steel output from the current annual level of 550,000 mt to 850,000 mt per year.
At the end of the last year, the Latvian state issued guarantees of LVL 60 million (€85 million) for a loan of over €85 million for the second stage of Liepajas Metalurgs' modernization.