Ukraine’s Metinvest Holding has held the official opening ceremony for the modernized 1700 hot strip mill (HSM) at its subsidiary Illyich SW on November 5, introducing renewed production to the market. The investment, which cost the company $110 million, is to significantly strengthen its positions in the flat steel market through the opening of new sales opportunities.
With the modernization, the capacity of the HSM increased from 1.3 million mt per year to 2.5 million mt, out of which 1.5 million mt per year will be available for potential buyers. In addition, at the first stage the thickness range will be increased from 1.8-8 mm to 1.2-8 mm with a further increase up to 16 mm in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the official information. The renewed facility will be also producing the coil of up to 27 mt weight and 1,550 mm width, with a further increase up to 32 mt.
As a result, with the completed project Metinvest will be supplying both small and big coils to the market. Moreover, as SteelOrbis reported earlier, the company has already sold some trial lots of the big coils from Illyich SW. The producer is expected to be active first of all in the Turkish market, where the demand from re-rollers is rather sizeable and is being currently covered by the local and Russian mills. “Metinvest for sure will get its market share in sales to the coated steel producers, once the quality [of the coils] is tested and confirmed,” a Turkish steel industry representative said.
