On February 12-13, 2019, with the support of the Russian Steel Association, the 3rd International Industrial Conference "Elektrostal: Technology, Equipment, Materials", organized by the "Metals of Eurasia" magazine, was held. Experts from Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy and Ukraine took part in the conference.
During the plenary sessions, about 30 reports were presented by specialists from metallurgical enterprises, including members of the Russian Steel Association, employees of scientific organizations, representatives of partner companies and leading foreign firms - developers of technologies and equipment for electric steel-making production.
Deputy Director of the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Alexei Ushakov made a welcoming speech from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, from the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - Deputy, Head of the Expert Council on Metallurgical and Mining Industry Alexey Kanaev,. Alexey Sentyurin, Executive Director of the Russian Steel Association, opened the conference with a report on the current situation and main trends in the ferrous metallurgy of Russia, on the internal and external challenges of Russian steel producers.
According to Alexey Sentyurin, the share of electric steel smelting in the world has grown by 2% - from 26% in 2016 to 28% in 2017. The main driver of growth was China, which accounts for almost half of the global volume and where the share of electric steel increased by 3% - from 6% to 9%. The share of electric steel in the domestic ferrous metallurgy decreased by 1% - to 31%.
In 2018, the Russian ferrous metallurgy moved from 5th to 6th place in the world steel production ranking, yielding to South Korea. India came out on the second place after China, leaving behind the USA and Japan. In addition to market factors, protectionism in foreign markets has a significant impact on the industry, which intensified noticeably after the US introduced import customs duties of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum in March 2018.
An important part of the event was a visit to the Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant and Lebedinsky GOK of the Management Company METALLOINVEST on February 13.
