The 1 million mt annual capacity heavy and jumbo section steel mill of UAE-based steel producer Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) is expected to start commercial production by July this year, ESI has told SteelOrbis.
The hot tests of the section mill were completed in February of the current year, while performance tests are still in progress. The mill in question will produce I-beams, H-beams, channels, angles and sheet piling. ESI stated that the first sections were shipped in January this year.
Emirates Steel has also informed SteelOrbis that its capacity enhancement project to increase the company's liquid steel production capacity to 3.4 million mt per year will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2013.
Phase three of the expansion project will include a steel meltshop, a thin slab caster and a hot strip mill with a planned capacity of more than 1.5 million mt per year. The rolling mill will produce hot strip in a thickness range of 1 mm to 25 mm and in widths of 1,000 mm to 2,050 mm for oil and gas projects, cold rolling, deep drawing and various other niche applications. Phase three of the project is expected to be completed in two and a half years once the engineering, procurement and construction contract is awarded.