Salzgitter presents galv line amid rising German capacity

The newly-built hot-dip galvanizing line No.3 at Salzgitter has achieved operational readiness since last month, Kallanish hears from the German steelmaker.

The new production plant with an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes supplements the two existing hot-dip galvanizing lines. It will shortly be producing high- and ultra-high-strength steels for vehicle body and chassis applications, and for the domestic appliances sector, in applications such as sophisticated surface components, Salzgitter states.

The line will produce sheet with thicknesses of 0.7-2.5mm, in widths of 900-1,700mm. The coils of strip will have a maximum weight of 32 tonnes. This is Salzgitter Group’s largest single investment of the past ten years, with around €200 million ($206m) spent on the complex, built by SMS.

“Even as planning and construction stages progressed, we were already engaged in close discussions with our customers regarding material concepts. The ramp-up phase is now in full swing,” says Michael Brühl, operations director for cold rolled products at Salzgitter Flachstahl, the group’s strip making unit.

Only one month ago, Germany’s other big national steelmaker, thyssenkrupp, inaugurated a new galvanizing line with an annual capacity of 600,000t. Market players have long made Kallanish aware of this foreseeable jump in capacity, noting that it will likely affect pricing of hot-dip galvanized coil.

Christian Koehl Germany