Donskoy Electrometallurgical Plant (DEMP), one of Russia’s billet exporters, is aiming to diversify its portfolio through entering the longs segment. The company plans to install a wire rod mill capable of 200,000 mt per year. According to a source familiar with the situation, DEMP will purchase second-hand equipment which will be fully renovated. The project is expected to be commissioned in 2021. “We will buy it by this summer and it will take six months to deliver and then set up. So overall it will take at least 1.5 years,” the source said.
Currently, the company is equipped with an electric arc furnace with 400,000 mt per year capacity. So far, the maximum monthly production achieved by DEMP is 20,200 mt of 125 mm x 125 mm billet, which is mostly exported. The company is focused on selling to Turkish re-rollers in small lots allocating 6-7 cargoes per month, to the Karabuk and Izmir regions specifically, SteelOrbis understands. The ability to supply for prompt shipment is one of the key supplier’s advantages in the Turkish market.
DEMP is a formerly idled billet production asset in Russia’s Volgograd region, which once belonged to Mechel group and was known as Volga-FEST. Production was restarted in March 2019. Marketing, sales and financing have been conducted with the joint venture done with DLT Commodity.
