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MMK restarts hot-rolled production in Turkey — company

The annual output of hot-rolled products on the Turkish manufacturing site will be about 2 mln tonnes

MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. MMK has initiated hot tests of its hot-rolled production at its mill in Turkey, the Russian metals producer says on Monday. The mill halted hot-rolled production in 2012 due to adverse economic factors.

"MMK Metalurji has started hot tests of the electric arc-furnace facility with the casting and rolling module. The annual output of hot-rolled products on the Turkish manufacturing site will be about 2 mln tonnes," MMK said.

The company plans to produce 200-260 thousand tonnes of hot-rolled steel in 2021 with the unit reaching full capacity in 2022.

"We made the decision to halt the hot-rolled production facility on the MMK Metalurji site in Iskenderun on the basis of cost efficiency considerations. The situation on the Turkish market was characterized at that time by high prices of feedstock and energy resources, and low prices for metal products. The current situation makes it possible for us to resume operation of the electric arc-furnace facility, which is a very important element in the structure of our Turkish asset," MMK Board Chairman Viktor Rashnikov said, cited in the statement.

About $40 mln of capital was spent in restarting production, hitting full capacity will give the Turkish asset of MMK a sizable increase in EBITDA, MMK CEO Pavel Shilyaev said.

The plant was commissioned in 2010. Project investments totaled $1.7 bln.