Mechel’s management did not provide details about the level of investment, saying they were included in the group’s long-term plans.
Romania’s biggest steel plant, ArcelorMittal Galati (formerly Sidex) currently operates with two furnaces, whose total capacity is 2.2 million tons. A third furnace should be put in service in September, bringing capacity to 3 million tons of raw steel a year.
Mechel has recently completed the investment of some $50 million to boost manufacturing capacity of Otelu Rosu, from 450,000 tons to 810,000 tons.
“Investments in Otelu Rosu won’t stop here. This is only the first phase, with two more to come,” said Yuri Guschchin, Mechel’s general manager for Romania. “Production of Otelu Rosu will reach 1.3 million tons of steel billet upon completion,” he added.
Steel billet is a semi-finished product made from raw steel, which is used to make further steel products. It takes one ton of raw steel to get almost one ton of billet.
Mechel officials say they have development plans for all the plants they own in Romania not just Otelu Rosu.