NLMK La Louvière, a subsidiary of Russian steelmaker NLMK Group and one of the leading flat steel producers in Belgium, has begun a €150 million project to upgrade its hot strip mill for producing thinner, stronger and more environment-friendly steel grades.
The first stage of the project is scheduled for early 2020, while the project is expected to be completed in 2021. The contract has been awarded to UK-based plantmaker Primetals Technologies, which has completed the basic engineering and begun production of the equipment.
“This project helps achieve one of the key targets of NLMK Group’s Strategy 2022: to increase value added sales by 1.7 million mt globally. The increase is set to be delivered through the expansion of product mix and tolerances and following the evolving demands of our customers who continuously look for lighter, higher strength steels. This groundbreaking project is the biggest investment in our La Louvière site and its customers in the last decades and will be a cornerstone of its further development,” said Ben de Vos, CEO of NLMK International.