Uzbekistan, Tashkent, October 17 /Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbek Metallurgical Plant (JSC Uzmetkombinat Bekabad city, Tashkent region), which accounts for 90 percent of steel products in the country, increased steel production by 0.6 percent - to 575.4 thousand tons in January - September 2012, the company said on Wednesday.
The plant handled .1 thousand tons of finished products - 0.4 percent more compared to the same period last year.
As previously reported, in 2011, "Uzmetkombinat" increased steel production by 2.2 percent, compared to the totals in 2010 - to 733.1 thousand tons and finished steel production - by 2.6 percent - to 709.9 thousand tons.
Uzmetkombinat is the only ferrous metallurgy factory in Central Asia working with scrap metal. It was commissioned in 1956. Earlier it processed scrap metal.
The capacity of the plant are designed to produce 790,000 tons of steel, 760,000 tons of long products.
The plant's authorized capital is 45.314 billion soums. Some 71.91 percent of its shares are owned by the state, 10 percent by the labor collective and 2.65 percent by minority shareholders. The Uzbek National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity, Promavtoinvesttorg, Navoi and Almalyk also own 15.44 per cent of shares.
Prior to 2015, JSC Uzmetkombinat plans to implement a program of development and modernization of the production worth $134.7 million. The program includes a project for production of ferroalloys based on deposit Dautash in Kashkadarya region (south of Uzbekistan) with project cost of $65 million, the construction of quarries of manganese ore and enrichment capacity at Uzmetkombinat for production of ferromanganese, silicon manganese and ferro in total volume of 12 thousand tons per year, etc.
The financing of the modernization program will be implemented at own expense of Uzmetkombinat.