Dansteel to make 5% of sales via its new service center

Danish plate mill Dansteel, part of Russian mining and steel group NLMK, aims to initially pass through 5% of its annual sales volume to its newly created steel service center, a spokesman for NLMK told S&P Global Platts Wednesday.

The Frederiksvaerk-based mill has just inaugurated its steel service center, which specializes in custom plate cutting and edge beveling. It is capable of processing up to 32 meter long plates with 8 mm-150 mm thicknesses and up to 4 meters wide.

Dansteel is seeing good demand for the added services from makers of wind turbines, pressure vessels, bridge builders and other heavy industry end-users, according to NLMK.

Previously, Dansteel outsourced these services to a third party but decided to invest in in-house expertise and develop its own steel service business. With this in view, NLMK made a minor investment in upgrading an old cutting machine installed at the plant and in skills and training of a new team.

Dansteel sold 290,000 mt of steel plate in the first half. Its sales grew 9% last year to 520,000 mt.