Business news

MINSK, 11 March (BelTA) – German banks will help finance the construction of a steel mill in Miory District, Vitebsk Oblast, the press service of the State Science and Technology Committee of Belarus told BelTA.

According to the source, the Committee’s Chairman Alexander Shumilin, representatives of the Vitebsk Oblast administration, the Miory District administration, and the management of OOO MMPZ Group met to discuss the construction and commissioning of the factory that will make metal sheets and tinned sheets in the town of Miory. According to the investor, the project’s implementation is in full swing.

BelTA has been told that representatives of Belarusbank, the German bank AKA Ausfuhrkredit GmbH, and the German company SMS Group GmbH will meet in Minsk on 16-17 March to sign an interbank credit agreement for the sake of the project's further implementation. The German banks have confirmed they are ready to offer loans for the sake of exporting the primary equipment worth €106 million that the steel mill will need. Apart from that, the investor has convinced top Russian state banks, which specialize in supporting government programs and giving tied export loans, to directly finance the project.

OOO MMPZ Group representatives said that since the project was launched, as much as €5.7 million and Br1.7 billion (as of 29 February) has been invested in building the steel mill. In the period contracts were signed with OOO MetPromStroy on building the factory (€20.8 million) and on supplying auxiliary equipment and materials (€48.3 million and €33.6 million respectively). In February 2016 the supplier of the main technological equipment SMS Group GmbH, which is the world’s top manufacturer of metallurgical industry equipment, acquired a share in the project’s capital via its mother company MMPZ GmbH (Austria).

BelTA reported earlier that the new metal factory will specialize in making tinned metal sheets. Those have many industrial applications including the production of packaging for the tinned food industry, aerosols, paints and varnishes. At present Belarus imports these materials abroad. The innovative project will allow the country to stop importing tinned metal sheets and to start exporting the merchandise to other markets. Belarus needs 30,000 tonnes of tin-plated metal sheets per annum while the future factory will be able to make 150,000 tonnes of the merchandise. One year after the launch the company intends to raise the output capacity up to 240,000 tonnes.

The steel mill will create 500 jobs. The entire cost of the investment project exceeds €200 million.