Uzbekistan to develop raw material base

Uzbekistan is to start developing its iron ore resources in order to provide support for the growth of the domestic metallurgical sector. Currently, Uzbekistan has only one steel plant – Uzmetkombinat, which has an annual production capacity of 750,000 metric tons of crude steel and which uses scrap as raw material. However, due to the continuous increase in world scrap prices, it is becoming unprofitable for Uzmetkombinat to use scrap - which the plant has to import - in its steel production.