Cognor wins land tender for new rolling mill

Cognor has won in a tender a plot of developed land north of Katowice in southern Poland where it plans to build its new hot rolled bar mill.

The land, located in Siemianowice Slaskie, is being sold off by state investment vehicle Towarzystwo Finansowe Silesia. Cognor’s winning bid amounted to PLN 61.48 million ($15.6m). The sales contract for the land must be finalised within 90 days.

Last May, Cognor ordered for €38.2m ($43.4m) from Danieli a bar hot rolling mill that will replace the current line at Cognor’s Zawiercie location, as well as a rebar spooling line that is to be located at its Krakow site. The firm secured in December PLN 400m of financing from Santander and Polish export credit agency KUKE for the revamp of its production units, with a view to expanding operations and exports (see Kallanish passim).

In the nine months through September 2021, Cognor reported a 57% on-year revenue surge to PLN 2.02 billion, while net profit ballooned over nine-fold to PLN 238.2m. However, the firm said its profitability and semi-finished steel sales tonnages could come under pressure after the gap between scrap and iron ore prices narrowed in the third quarter.

Cognor’s Ferrostal plant has a 375,000 tonnes/year crude steel design capacity, while its HSJ unit has a 261,000 t/y capacity.

Adam Smith Germany