It is reported that Sheffield Forgemasters International has won a GBP 1.75 million contract to make giant castings for a massive plate mill destined for Russia.

The Brightside Lane firm is making four castings that will be bolted together to create the housing for the mill, which is being built by German steel plant manufacturer SMS Demag for Russian steel giant, United Metallurgical Company. When complete, the mill will weigh more than 1,000 tonnes and be able to roll plates up to six meters wide twice the conventional plate width.

Mr Dr Graham Honeyman CEO of Forgemasters said that "The contract for SMS Demag builds on two contracts Forgemasters won 18 months ago to produce the same style of rolling mill housings for steel production in India.”

He added that “We are witnessing increasing demand for ever larger and heavier products as the global economy accelerates. Nations like India, China and Russia have massive requirements to feed their respective domestic markets, and Forgemasters is one of a select few companies across the globe capable of creating these vast steel producing components."