Russia’s Severstal, one of the largest flat steel producers in the CIS, is getting close to the long-awaited restart of its new pickling line, which will let the company significantly strengthen its market positions.
According to the disclosed information, Severstal has very recently started to test the key sub-units of its new pickling line, which has been under construction for over a year. The official start of the line is scheduled for the end of October and the facility is foreseen to reach its full production in 2021, SteelOrbis has learned.
The new line will have around 2 million mt per year of pickling capacity, which means around 160,000 mt per month. The key intention of Severstal in this project is to cover up for the requirements of the auto sector locally and to also eliminate some gaps in its own product range. “The key goal is the pickling and the further downstream production of auto sheet,” a company’s representative said. As a result, with the new line operational, Severstal eventually will give lower merchant HRC volumes to the free market, SteelOrbis estimates.