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MMK Mulls Auto Body Sheet Production in US
Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) may build a plant in the United States to produce 1 million tons of auto body sheets a year, the company’s executive said Tuesday. MMK is likely to compete with Severstal which outputs 2.6 million tons of the product at Severstal North America and is ready to make more. Industry experts view the plans as realistic despite a slowdown in the U.S. car industry.
MMK CEO Viktor Rashnikov said during a conference call on Tuesday that the steel producer is considering “the possibility of building a mill in Ohio to produce cold-rolled automobile body sheets.” No final decision has been made, he noted.
Mr. Rashnikov did not say how much money MMK would invest in the project and what kind of production capacity the plant would have. A Kommersant source informed on MMK’s plans said the mill would produce 1 million tons of body sheets a year.
MMK may become Russia’s third metal company to enter the U.S. market. Severstal has been producing auto body sheets in the country for several years while Evraz has bought Oregon Steel which outputs similar products.
Russian experts say that despite a decline in the U.S. car industry, it is still the world’s third largest producer. The country’s car makers need some 16 million tons of the body sheets a year.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 18, 2007
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