Russian coated steel market holds good prospects for development

The Russian domestic market for coated steel has good prospects for further development, has stated Vladislav Polkin, general director of Russia's NCP Zinc Development Center.
 
Currently, the steel coating sector, both in Russia and worldwide, is undergoing a dynamic phase of development, with demand for galvanized steel and color-coated steel accelerating. In line with this growth of demand, more and more new capacities are coming on stream. For instance, by 2009 new production capacities totaling more than 21 million metric tons are expected to be put into operation worldwide. With the total world capacity standing at about 100 million mt, the new projects will boost this figure by a little less than one quarter.
 
In Russia, in the last six years the consumption of galvanized steel went up threefold, while the consumption of coated steel increased tenfold during the same period. These numbers are indicative of the surging demand for coated steel in Russia, where the main consumers of coated steel are the construction and infrastructure industries.
 
While demand for coated steel in Russia has been booming, domestic production of these types of product has remained relatively small. The main producers of coated steel in Russia are MMK, NLMK and Severstal's galvanized producing mill, Severgal. Against the background of increasing demand, imports of these types of products to Russia have also risen considerably in recent years. Although Kazakhstan has always been present in the Russian coated steel market, China's firm foothold among Russia's coated steel imports is a fairly new development.
 
As for the prospects for the Russian coated steel market, demand for this type of steel is expected to continue to rise in the coming years, mainly because of the construction boom, the upcoming Sochi 2012 Olympic Games, the continuing development of the oil and gas industries and also the development of the transportation sector.