MMK-Atakas, a joint venture of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and Atakas Group launched its electric steel-smelting facility in Iskenderun, Turkey in the course of a ceremony attended by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

‘The launch of the department means MMK-Atakas in Iskenderun is actually complete. The metal goods output is expected to reach over 800,000 tons this year already, whereas in 2012, it will come to over 2 million tons. The facility’s production capacity is estimated at 2.3 million tons of ready goods annually,’ MMK reports.

The decision to build MMK-Atakas was taken in May 2007. In July 2007, MMK bought a 50% plus one share holding in MMK ATAKAŞ METALÜRJİ SANAYİ, TİCARET VE LİMAN İŞLETMECİLİĞİ A.Ş. Atakas Group owns 50% minus one share in the company.

The facility currently comprises a steel-smelting department, a cold-rolling department, a hot-dip galvanizing unit, a polymeric coating line in Iskenderun and two metal service and maintenance centers in Iskenderun and in Istanbul. The maintenance centers offer services related to cross cutting and slitting of cold- and hot-rolled rolls. The facility also comprise a seaport that can welcome vessels of up to 100,000 tons, which means export and raw materials delivery gets much easier.

The project requires about $2.1bn worth of investments, supplied by both the stockholders and the loans. The better part of the machinery is supplied by the Italian company Danieli.

MMK BOD Chairman Viktor Rashnikov says MMK-Atakas will make sure there is enough flat stock on the Turkish market. He is also positive that the enterprise will contribute greatly to the development of Russia and Turkey’s economic and business cooperation.

Atakas Group BOD Chairman Recep Atakas emphasized that Turkey’s dynamically developing metal consumption market has long wanted a manufacturer like MMK-Atakas.