It is reported that the Ukrainian company Unisteel plans in June to start production at its new 100,000 tons annual capacity HDG line at the city of Kriviy Rih in the region of Dnipropetrovsk.
In March Unisteel will complete the installation of the line equipment, in April to May training will be carried out for staff and in June the first 4,000 tons of galvanized coils is scheduled to be produced.
The new HDG line will produce galvanized coils of 0.3 mm to 2.0 mm thickness and of up to 1,250 mm width, and with zinc coating in thickness from 90 to 400 gram per square meter from Russian and Ukrainian cold-rolled coils. The total investments in Unisteel HDG line amount to $21.5 million. Among the investors was also the Russian company Unistad, a HDG producer with an annual capacity of 60,000 tons based at Dzerzhinsk in the region of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia.
Mr. Dmitry Ogorodtsev, Unisteel commercial director, said the new line would produce high-price category products, which would allow the company to compete for market share not only with domestic producers, but also with imports. Later, the company plans to start focusing on exports and to expand the range of available services.
Currently in Ukraine there are three HDG producers, including the Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, Module Plant, with a total capacity of 560,000 tons per year and AZST-Color with a capacity of up to 70,000 tons of polymer-coated products per year. In addition, in 2010 the Ukrainian company Metals and Polymers plans to commission a new plant for production of galvanized and color-coated coils with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons and 70,000 tons respectively. (SteelOrbis)