Mittal Steel SA opens galvanizing line, restarts caster

Mittal Steel South Africa (Mittal Steel SA) has announced the commissioning of its new galvanizing line №5 at its Vanderbijlpark plant as a part of the company's strategy to increase the market penetration of its products. The new galvanizing line with a total capacity of 100,000 mt per year has cost Mittal Steel SA ZAR 110 million ($15.4 million). The chief executive of Mittal Steel SA, Mr. Rick Reato, commented, “The galvanizing strategy aims to increase market penetration with our own manufactured products, particularly in the South Africa and Sub-Saharan African market”. Mr. Reato added that the new capacity would assist in mitigating the current shortage of galvanized products experienced in the South African market. The commissioning of the new galvanizing line is part of Mittal Steel SA's ZAR eight billion ($1.1 billion) investment program to increase its liquid steel output. In addition, Mittal Steel SA has restarted V1 caster at its Vanderbijlpark plant, which was affected by the fire in late October that damaged both the V1 and V2 casters. The total loss in production was only 10,000 mt of finished steel products, and this is expected to be made up for during December production as the South African market will be closed for the Christmas holidays.