Turkey-based investment firm Ussuri Capital, headed by former Metinvest marketing director Roman Kurashev, plans to commission a greenfield cold rolling and galvanizing plant in Romania in 2027. The pre-feasibility study was completed in March.
The plant will have a 400,000 tonnes/year capacity push-pickling line, 6-hi cold rolling mill with 250,000 t/y capacity and equal capacity hot-dip galvanizing line, and a 130,000 t/y continuous colour-coating line.
Capital expenditure is estimated at €160 million ($172m). The firm is targeting annual revenue of €386m and Ebitda of €45m by 2032. It is currently carrying out due diligence on plant location and capital structure.
In Phase 2, planned for 2026-2030, the firm will install a 1.25 million tonnes/year electric arc furnace fed by local scrap, and same capacity hot strip mill for ultra-thin hot rolled coil. This will feed the downstream units as well as be sold on the merchant market. Capex is projected at €715-800m, with Phase 2 revenue seen at €1.04 billion and Ebitda at $270m in 2032.
Hot rolled coil feedstock will initially be imported from non-EU sources, both blast furnace-oxygen converter and electric arc furnace-based producers, depending on price and availability. Ussuri is relying on the 2026-2032 phaseout of emissions allowances raising EU domestic steelmaking costs and therefore steel prices by the same rate as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) raises the cost of steel imports.
“We view the CO2 tax as just a cost from a unit economics point of view. So, it doesn’t particularly affect the economics of the re-rolling stage. The increase in prices will be paid by consumers in the end,” an Ussuri representative tells Kallanish.
Due to the mammoth size of the task, the firm sees only 40% at most of flat steel capacity in Europe being of the low-emission variety by 2034. Much of the steel in Europe will still be made using traditional technologies and steel prices will be elevated.
Adam Smith Poland
