ArcelorMittal to Invest $98 Million for 650,000-Ton Rolling Mill in Poland

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) (Luxembourg), one of the world's largest steel producers, has announced that it is investing $98 million to set up a rolling mill in Huta Warszawa in Poland with an annual capacity of 650,000 tons per year. The domestic growth in infrastructure has increased the demand for completed metal products, including bar and sheet, used in construction. This offers a tremendous potential for the global steel major eyeing a larger slice of the pie in Poland's steel market.

ArcelorMittal Warszawa, a wholly owned subsidiary of ArcelorMittal that specializes in manufacturing carbon and special steel long products, inaugurated the new mill recently and will be responsible for setting it up. The facility will be capable of rolling metal into sheet, bar and other forms. The mill will be equipped to manufacture 840-millimeter (mm) rebar, 1,650-mm plain bar, squares, flats, equal angles and channels. Manufacturing and delivering the complete product range locally with optimal service and quality will help the company strengthen its position as a market leader.

The bar-rolling mill comprises a 160-ton-per-hour walking-hearth reheating furnace that is linked to an existing continuous caster. This ensures direct hot charging for billet, saving 80 kilocalories/kg of energy. The state-of-the-art 18 stand mill is designed for maximized mill efficiency and operational flexibility through its usage of heavy-duty housingless stands with automatic fast changing system. The rolling speed is up to 18 m/s.

ArcelorMittal, which had an annual production capacity of more than 130 million tons of crude steel in 2007, invested more than $1.1 billion to build four steel plants in Poland in the past three years. The plants include a hot rolling mill in Krakow, two strand continuous steel casting lines in Dabrowa Gornicza, a coating line in Swietochlowice, and the modernization of a wire rod mill in Sosnowiec. The steel service center in Krakow has a capacity of 2.4 million tons per year with a possibility of augmenting it to 4.8 million tons per year. Products from the Krakow plant are intended for the automotive and white goods market. The new unit in Dabrowa Gornicza replaces the existing ingot casting unit. The color coating plant at Swietochlowice, one of Europe's most modern facilities, has a targeted annual production of 200,000 tons per year. The wire rod mill in Sosnowiec has a capacity of 750,000 tons per year and will cater to the domestic construction market.

The company also has two subsidiaries: the Zdzieszowice coke plant, the largest of its kind in Europe with a capacity of 4 million tons per year, and another unit in Huta Krolewska in Huta Batory. With a production capacity of 8 million tons per year, ArcelorMittal currently contributes about 70% of Poland's total steel production.

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