This week Torex Group said that its subsidiary Amurstal, a Far East Russian EAF-based steel producer with a capacity of about 1 million mt per year, may stop operations in early December due to a scrap shortage. This will lead to a drop in billet supply to the Asian market of about 50,000 mt per month, SteelOrbis has learned.
Inspections at the plant started on November 17. “Banks stopped financing on the same day… Foreign contracts held by the company are now in jeopardy. Moreover, suppliers of scrap and other raw materials, without which the plant cannot work, also suspended shipments,” Dmitry Kozlov, deputy CEO of the steel plant, said. The stoppage of Amurstal in the winter season will mean that the plant will be non-operational for a long period of time - about 4-6 months, according to local press which cited the management of the mill.
According to market sources, Amurstal’s billet sales are up to 50,000 mt per month, which go mostly to Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan. The producer is also selling about 300,000 mt of long steel products annually.
