Severstal North America hosted a ribbon ceremony Wednesday to celebrate the Grand Opening of its Phase II expansion in Columbus, Mississippi. Severstal invested $550 million at the plant to increase annual steel production to 3.4 million tons, doubling the steel mill's capacity. The expansion project included a second electric arc furnace, ladle metallurgy furnace, caster, tunnel furnace, a hot-dip galvanizing line and a push-pull pickle line.
Sergei Kuznetsov, CEO of Severstal North America, commented that "The addition of Phase 2 allows us to increase sales to the market sectors where we were not actively present. We gained broad capabilities in heavy gauge pickled and galvanized products which we are now able to offer to the customers in both master coil and sheets or slit-to-customer order. The launch demonstrates Severstal's faith in the US economy and our commitment to domestic manufacturing, our customers, employees and communities."