Dec 19 2007
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company, today announced that it has signed an agreement with the administration of the Tver region in Russia that will lead to the creation of a greenfield long carbon steel production unit.
The agreement was signed today with the governor of the Tver oblast (administrative region), Dmitry Zelenin. Tver is located 180 km north of Moscow, on the road to Saint-Petersburg.
The objective of the agreement is to make available to ArcelorMittal the land required to build a steel complex consisting of an electric arc furnace (EAF), with a capacity of one million ton of steel, and of two bar mills. This steel complex will be built in 2 phases.
In the first phase, a bar mill with a capacity of 600,000 tons of rebars and merchant bars will be built. Work on the site will start during Q2 2008 and commissioning of the mill is scheduled for the beginning of 2010. The plant will generate 200 direct and 400 indirect jobs. This first phase represents an investment of around US$100 million.
The feasibility study on the second phase of the project will begin shortly.
Malay Mukherjee, member of ArcelorMittal's Group Management Board, commented: "I am very excited about this project, as this will become our first steel production unit in Russia. The mill in Tver will give us exposure to a construction sector which is expected to grow at a yearly rate above 10%. In addition to deploying its recognised expertise in management, production and marketing, ArcelorMittal will also implement in Tver world-class practices in areas such as health and safety, environment and training."
Dmitry Zelenin, the governor of the Tver oblast, said: "Tver is a very dynamic region which experiences strong economic growth. We are very happy to be able to partner with a world-class company such as ArcelorMittal to further develop its potential".