The country’s third largest city Sumgayit will be the home to a huge metallurgical complex to be jointly built by Azerbaijan and Italy.
The agreement signed between Baku Steel Company and Italian company Danieli in December 2016 will allow the country to save millions of dollars it spends on import and create opportunity for opening new jobs.
The project is considered the largest in the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan and the uniqueness of the complex is that it will allow to carry out the entire production process without additional logistics lines.
Head of Sumgayit City Executive Power Zakir Farajov said that preparations for the construction of a modern metallurgical complex worth 1.2 billion euros had already started.
The total investment volume of the complex to provide more than 2,000 jobs will be about $2.3 billion, noted Farajov.
The construction of the plant will be an important step, because for the past several years Azerbaijani investments in this sphere have been redirected to other countries, in particular, to Iran.
Azerbaijan has the most potential for metallurgical production in the region. The territory of the country, which encompasses the eastern portion of the Major and Minor Caucasus mountain ranges, is distinguished with its complex geological structure, diversity, and abundance of minerals.
The country is rich in terms of raw materials, natural resources, and the construction sector on the one hand, and enjoys the experienced personnel necessary to open a range of opportunities for the development of heavy industry, including the metallurgical industry, on the other.
The nature generously endowed Azerbaijan with large deposits of alunites, polymetallic ores containing more than 30 valuable elements, the deposits of Dashkasian iron ores – largest in the Caucasus, titanomagnetites, bentonites, zeolites, gold and platinum-bearing rocks.
However, currently many enterprises are importing metallurgical products from abroad, due to the absence of a full cycle of metallurgical production in the country. The construction of a new metallurgical complex will not only fully meet the demand of the domestic market, but also allow exporting remaining part of the products to the countries of the region.
The annual production capacity of the complex will be 1.2 million tons of metallized pellets, 800,000 tons of which will be directed to the demand of the complex for the production of finished products. The remaining 400,000 tons will be purchased by Baku Steel Company for it needs.
Operating on the local market since 2001, Baku Steel Company has already expanded to the giant of Azerbaijan metallurgy. Moreover, in recent years, as a result of reconstruction and significant financial investments carried out by the company’s management, it has not only become the largest metallurgical enterprise in the Caucasus, but also has risen to a level comparable to the advanced plants in Europe.
In order to reduce the cost of production, the company, along with the implementation of reconstruction and modernization, is mastering the latest production technologies. (AzerNews/Ukrainian metal)