Russian GE Major Energorprom Inaugurates New Furnace at its Novocherkassk Electrode Plant

Russia's Energoprom held a ceremonial commissioning of the modern REIDHAMMER Furnace recently with the total investment amounting to RUB 1.5 billion which is twice as technically advanced as its current counterparts in terms of performance, environment, automation and service life.

The company's management pointed out that the launch of the new furnace comprises an important step in the implementation of the large-scale investment program of the EPM Group, which it is implementing under a special investment contract with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and the Government of the Rostov Region.

EPM Group is implementing a large-scale investment program of RUB 2.7 billion that will allow to double the production of domestically produced large-diameter graphite electrodes, which is fully consistent with the vector of reducing the dependence of domestic metallurgy on foreign suppliers of raw materials and increasing the share of Russian-made graphite electrodes in the domestic market. The total volume of the company's investments is about RUB 10 billion, half of which is aimed at implementing EPM Group's investment program in the Rostov region.

"Commissioning of the RIEDHAMMER furnace in the firing workshop is the largest investment project of our company's technical upgrading program. The project was implemented in record time and is a vivid example of productive cooperation with our German partners.", Managing Director of EPM-NEP Evgeny Churikov said.

According to the company sources, under this upgradation program, EPM group's GE production capacity will increase only by around 10,000 tonnes and will touch a mark of 60,000 tonnes with key focus on UHP grade electrodes production. However, it is most likely that by next year the company may decrease its production amid the large amount of accumulated electrodes inventories.

Russia is a net importer of graphite electrodes. During first nine months of 2019 (Jan-Sep), the country imported about 34,816 tonnes with highest imports coming from China (52%) followed by Spain (18%) and France (15%). In terms of exports the country exported about 30,802 tonnes of electrodes during Jan-Sep, with highest exports to U.S., Kazakhstan and Brazil.