Severstal Cherepovets, the main steel producing facility of Severstal Russian Steel, is to recommission its continuous hot dip galvanizing unit, stopped for overhaul, if the market conditions improve, Cherepovets' sales department head Jury Sunyaev has said at "Galvanized and coated rolled products: trends in production and consumption - 2009", the fourth international conference in the series, which is being held today in Moscow.
According to Mr. Sunyaev, during the previous year the Russian galvanized market saw a growth of 15 percent year on year, despite the sizeable decrease registered in the fourth quarter. In the meantime, Russia's galvanized steel imports from China and Kazakhstan also increased.
Currently, the Russian domestic market is unable to consume all the galvanized steel products offered by the local steel producers. Severstal Cherepovets's two galvanizing units are operating mostly for exports orders. Meanwhile, the plant has received the equipment for the overhaul of its third continuous hot dip galvanizing unit. Following the overhaul, Severstal Cherepovets's continuous hot dip galvanizing workshop will increase in capacity from the previous 200,000 mt to 380,000-400,000 mt of galvanized steel products per year, and will produce coils of 0.3 to 1.2 mm in thickness, stated Mr. Sunyaev.