In 2024, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works Group increased sales of premium coated steel products by a quarter. This was announced by Vladimir Banshchikov, Director of MMK-Lysvensky Metallurgical Plant LLC, speaking at the 20th International Conference "Galvanized and Painted Rolled Products: Production and Consumption Trends" in Moscow.
According to him, despite the general decrease in demand for metal products in the country, the volume of sales of rolled products with coatings increased by 3% last year to 6 million tons. MMK Group remains the leader in the supply of galvanized and painted rolled products to the Russian market, with a volume of 1.6 million tons in 2024, including 1.2 million tons of galvanized and 0.4 million tons of polymer–coated rolled products. At the same time, the company focuses on premium products in this segment, demonstrating a consistently high level of sales. Last year, 357 thousand tons of such products were sold (287 thousand tons a year earlier), which accounted for 19% of the total sales of coated metal. Premium products include hot-dip galvanized (HC) rolled products for the automotive industry and "strong" construction steel grades, rolled products with a "wrinkled" surface texture, and SteelArt decorative rolled products.
Speaking about promising areas for the development of galvanized rolled products, Vladimir Banshchikov singled out HZ rolled products from structural steel grades with a yield strength of 220 MPa or more, as well as HZ rolled products with zinc coating classes 450-600. The premium areas of painted rolled products, which are developing mainly at the MMK-LMZ LLC site, include branded products with a SteelArt decorative coating (currently 50 types of drawings are available for order) and rolled products with a wrinkled surface texture (12 drawings). In addition, the development of painted rolled products with an increased class of zinc coating (from C275) with increased corrosion resistance for use in aggressive environments is underway.
As other premium areas of painted rolled products, the speaker named rolled products with a textured polyester coating of increased plasticity, rolled products with an antibacterial coating, as well as with an anti-vandal coating "Anti-Graffiti". All these products are manufactured at the MMK-LMZ site, which, according to Vladimir Banshchikov, has a number of advantages. These include a wide range of products in the warehouse, the speed of shipment and packing, the possibility of producing and shipping low–tonnage rolls (from 3 tons), the complete set of prefabricated wagons and the possibility of shipping "one roll - one color", the possibility of sending products by the supplier's vehicles to any city in Russia.
