Belarusian Metallurgical Plant plans to increase supplies of hardware to Russia 10-15% in 2024

MINSK. Dec 28 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Metallurgical Plant intends to increase shipments of metal hardware products to Russia by 10-15% in 2024, Igor Chernyavsky, deputy general director for hardware production said.

"For almost all Russian clients, contracts for the next year have been agreed upon at a level of plus 10-15% to factory shipments [this year]," Chernyavsky said.

The plant is tasked with deepening its cooperation with Russia and fighting competition," he said.

The deputy director also noted the high quality the plant's raw materials for hardware production. "After sanctions were imposed against the plant, certain types of raw materials became unavailable to our enterprise. There was a huge amount of work done to find a good supplier in Asia. As it turns out, the quality from our Asian suppliers is higher than that of our European ones, while the costs are lower," he said.

Hardware production volumes this year will grow 13.5% in physical terms, Chernyavsky said. "The production plan for the first month of 2024 is higher than in December. It is necessary to get involved in this as much as possible and confirm the declared volumes. The hardware workshops will be working especially actively," he said.

Earlier it was reported that Belarusian Metallurgical Plant plans to increase steel production in 2023 15% to 2.3 million tonnes. Production volumes for steel in 2022 reached 2 million tonnes (16% less than in 2021).

Earlier, Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Dmitry Krutoi reported that the plant's shipments to Russia in 2023 would grow to a record level of $1 billion.

The Belarusian Metallurgical Plant started operations in 1984 and was incorporated in 2012 (100% of its shares belong to the state). Structurally, the enterprise consists of production facilities connected by a technological chain of steelmaking, rolling, pipe, hardware and infrastructure workshops.

The company is under sanctions from the EU, the US and Switzerland. EU sectoral sanctions have been in force for Belarusian iron and steel products since June 2022. In August 2023, the EU, the US and Switzerland imposed personal sanctions against OJSC Belarusian Metallurgical Plant, the holding's management company.