NLMK has opened a new service centre, NLMK South Africa, in Wadeville on the outskirts of Johannesburg. This will supply abrasion-resistant (NLMK Quard) and high-strength (NLMK Quend) thick plate produced at NLMK Clabecq in Belgium.

The new unit will target sales to the mining, machine-building and construction sectors in South Africa, as well as Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and Zambia. Anton van den Berg has been appointed the service centre’s general manager.

“NLMK Group’s geographic footprint close to our clients has expanded to incorporate an entire continent: Africa,” Ilya Gushchin, NLMK Group Vice President, Sales, says in a note sent to Kallanish. “This region is considered to be one of the fastest growing and the most prospective markets. Our offering in the African market includes high-strength and abrasion-resistant steels, with plans to expand our mix to include construction steel, steel for high-pressure vessels, tool steels, and other products.”

NLMK’s consolidated finished steel sales fell -3% on-year in the first half of 2018 to 5.24 million tonnes, but semi-finished product shipments surged 32% to 3.29mt.