MMK plans to launch hot rolling capacity at Turkish asset by April 1

MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Russia's MMK Group plans to launch hot-rolling production at its Turkish asset MMK Metalurji by April 1, Viktor Rashnikov, chairman of the MMK board of directors, told reporters.

"As for the cold rolling section, we already launched that a week ago. We'll restore hot-rolling in a about a month, we're going to launch the hot-rolling section by April 1," he said.

Hot rolling capacity was stopped in November as business activity slowed.

MMK said last week that it had relaunched some capacity, namely a continuous picking unit and reversing mill, following the earthquake in Turkey.

Rashnikov said the polymer coating plant had restarted this week.

MMK Metalurji includes an electric steelmaking shop with a casting and rolling module, a cold rolling mill, a steel service center with a continuous hot dip galvanizing plant and a polymer coating plant in Iskenderun, and a steel service center with a continuous hot dip galvanizing plant and a polymer coating plant in Istanbul. The design capacity of the plant is 2.3 million tonnes.

The Turkish MMK asset, as well as the plant itself and its controlling shareholder Viktor Rashnikov, were included in the SDN sanctions list last summer. OFAC's license to wind down operations with MMK Metalurji was issued until the end of January 2023.