Sheffield Forgemasters has further strengthened its position as Russia’s leading steel rolls supplier after securing a contract worth more than EUR 15.5 million with the country largest steel company, Severstal.

The multimillion pound deal is for a range of work and back up rolls which will be supplied to the Russian steel giant over the next three years. The finished components will be used in Severstal cold rolling mills to roll steel sheets for domestic use such as car manufacturing and white goods.

Mr Ken Brooks senior sales manager at Forgemasters said “This latest order from Severstal further builds upon the existing strong relationship we have with the company.”

He said that “When we first started working with Severstal in 1999, the company required a supplier that could deliver modern technologies as well as the highest quality products. At Forgemasters we pride ourselves on our innovation and quality, so we are keeping that requirement fulfilled almost 13 years later.”

Mr Ken added “Russia’s demand for domestic steel is enormous and as the country largest forged rolls supplier, we can use our expertise and state of the art techniques to deliver the highest quality products.”

He said that “We supply more forged steel rolls to Severstal than any other roll maker and so this new contract is testimony to the strength of that relationship as well as our position within the wider Russian steel market.”

The contract comes less than a year after Forgemasters’ secured a EUR 5.5 million contract with Severstal to fulfill the majority of the company’s cold mill requirements for 2011.

The rolls will be produced using specialist techniques including forging each steel ingot and heat treatment a process that exposes the rolls to temperatures from +940 degrees to 40 degrees to create highly specific hardness properties. The rolls will then be finish machined to within 0.05mm using computer controlled machine tools.