The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and Belarusbank have lent €283.8mn to a Belarusian small section wire mill.

The borrower is Byelorussian Steel Works (BMZ), the management company of the Byelorussian Metallurgical Company, in Zhlobin, Belarus. The EDB has put up €141mn of the overall finance, with Belarusbank supplying €142.8mn. The EDB arranged the transaction.

BMZ will use the finance for the construction of a rolling mill which will produce one million tonnes of wire a year. The plan is for 25% of the produce to be sold domestically, 13% to other CIS countries and 62% to other foreign countries.

Gennady Zhuzhlev, deputy chairman of the EDB, says: “The Byelorussian Steel Works is one of the most sophisticated and effective enterprises in Belarus. The upgrade of this ‘European-class’ plant with state-of-the-art equipment, the introduction of innovative processes and the launching of new metal production will help enhance the country’s export potential and influence its related industries, thereby promoting economic growth and sustainable development in Belarus.”

Anatoly Savenok, general director of BMZ, says: “The construction of a small section wire mill is a key project to modernise the Byelorussian Steel Works over a five-year period. From 2013 to 2015, BMZ’s output is expected to reach three million tonnes a year thanks to the modernisation and reconstruction of the steelmaking processes. With the existing structure of the plant’s rolling facilities, the excess in section and bloom production will grow and will reach some 700,000 tonnes a year by 2015. These volumes will be processed at the new mill into products which are in demand.”