Turkey-based MMK-Atakas commissions EAF facility in Iskenderun

On March 9, MMK-Atakas, a Turkish joint venture steel project developed by the Russian steelmaker Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and the Turkey-based Atakas Group of Companies, commissioned the new electric arc furnace (EAF) facility at its industrial complex in Iskenderun.
 
Accordingly, the commissioning of the EAF facility means that the construction of the MMK-Atakas steel plant on the Iskenderun site has practically been completed. It is planned that production will reach over 800,000 mt of steel products in 2011 and will exceed two million mt in 2012, MMK said.
 
MMK-Atakas, with two sites - one located in Iskenderun and one in Istanbul, has a 2.5 million mt annual crude steel production capacity, a 2.3 million mt capacity of hot rolled flat steel per year, a 1.2 million mt pickling capacity, a one million mt cold rolling capacity, a 900,000 mt galvanizing capacity and a 400,000 mt capacity for color coating.
 
In addition, MMK-Atakas operates two service centers, in Iskenderun and in Istanbul, designed to cut and slit coils and sheets and package products, and a sea port capable of catering for ships of up to 100,000 dwt, built next to the Iskenderun production site, in order to supply raw and input materials to the Iskenderun plant and ship MMK-Atakas products to customers.
 
The total investments in the MMK-Atakas project, considered to the biggest steel investment in the private sector in Turkey, are estimated at approximately $2 billion.
 
The construction of the MMK-Atakas joint venture project began in March 2008, with the key equipment supplier for the project being the Italian plantmaker Danieli.