Guryevsk Metallurgical Works (GMZ), a subsidiary of Russian steel producer ESTAR Holding (ESTAR), has announced that currently its production operations have gained stability and that it plans to considerably increase its output of long steel products and of grinding steel balls in the coming months. Accordingly, in October GMZ plans to produce 27,000 mt of long products and grinding steel balls.
In August this year, GMZ produced 16,703 mt of crude steel in open hearth furnaces - down 14.4 percent, 9,411 mt of long steel products - down 19.1 percent, and 4,732 mt of grinding steel balls - down 22.8 percent, all compared to the same month last year.
Meanwhile, for September GMZ has targeted outputs of 15,600 mt of crude steel, 9,400 mt of long products, and 4,600 mt of grinding steel balls. According to the company's statement, the slight reductions in the planned steel outputs for September are due to the scheduled repair works carried out at the mill's open hearth furnace (OHF) No.1. As SteelOrbis previously reported, as a result of the repair works, GMZ will be able to increase the annual production capacity of the OHF No. 1 by 10 percent to 110,000 mt of crude steel, and thereby reduce the volume of billets supplied to the mill for further re-rolling by 6,000-7,000 mt per year. The annual financial benefit will reach about Ruble 20-25 million (approx. $662,000-828,000).