EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL BOOSTS COMPETITIVENESS

Ostrava 16th February 2010 - EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. acquired several certificates necessary for the export of steel products with a high added value and last year, realized a trial lot of sheet piles to Russia. As a result, the company managed to increase its competitiveness, regardless of the difficult situation in the steel industry.

The entire steel industry was hit by the global crisis in 2009. In an effort to overcome the crisis, EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. decided to focus its activities on improving production technologies in order to gain access to promising markets. EVS managed to produce a trial lot of sheet piles for the export to the Russian market last autumn. "The Russian Federation is still a really promising market, which is particularly true in connection with the Sochi Olympics construction activities," says Zbyněk Kvapík, CEO, EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. He adds: "We would like to capitalise on the vertical integration of our Evraz Group and take a share of the orders for pipelines and sheet piles."

EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. has already met the first order for Sochi. The construction of a pipeline "Djubga-Lazarevskoe-Sochi", for improvement of deliveries of gas for the Olympics began in the second half of 2009, and EVS has produced and delivered 18,000 tonnes of special plates with high quality there. The gas pipeline will be 177 km long from which 7.2 km are already installed on the Black Sea cost. Almost 160 km of this gas pipeline will be led under the sea.

EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. also continues with the tradition of delivering thick plates for shipbuilding. The largest world cruise ship, the Oasis of the Seas, which has been sailing in the Caribbean Sea since the end of the last year, was assembled from 10,000 tonnes of plates made in Vítkovice. "The plates from EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. were used especially for the construction of the hull and keel of the Oasis of the Seas," says Zbyněk Kvapík in his comment on the delivery of the plates. "EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s. has already become firmly established on the shipbuilding plate market. Our reference projects also include high speed ferries such as SUPERSPEED for transport of 900 passengers, cargo and cars for which we delivered 5,300 tonnes of plates, as well as ferries for combined transport of passengers and cars ARMORIQUE which can carry 1,500 persons and 235 cars."

EVS also proceeds with investments into safety and environmental projects, the most important of which is IPPC-secondary dedusting of the steel shop. The project was started last year and by now around 100 milion CZK has already been invested in it. EVS plans to proceed with the implementation of the project and now reviews and updates the technical parameters of it in accordance with the latest stricter requirements to the limits of solid pollutant emissions. The aim is to reduce the emission burden by 60 % set by law lately. The total investment is estimated in several hundreds million CZK.

Also, a unique scarfing machine in amount of CZK 130 milion was put into operation last year. New technology for improving of the quality of slab surface significantly contributes to lower of noise level and dust in the plant, contributes to better hygiene of work conditions and consumes less energy. For the first time in the Czech Republic the scarfing technology was included into the production line and works in cycle with continuous casting.

For more information please contact:

Jaromír Krišica, press spokesman
EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s.
+420 603 543 572
krisica@crestcom.cz

EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL concentrates on the production of steel and steel products - heavy plates, heavy and medium sections, and flame-cut shapes from heavy plates. The company aims to continue increasing the sales of its products with high added value, such as deliveries of plates for pipelines. Thanks to the important support of the Evraz Group and its strong position on the Russian steel market the company has also successfully entered the Russian market of the pipeline industry. In the sphere of heavy plates EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL is the main European manufacturer and the only manufacturer in the Czech Republic. Within the section production the most important product is sheet piles which represent a 75 % share of the mill's production. The company is the sole manufacturer of this product on the domestic market and holds a 90% market share.

Evraz Group S.A. is a large vertically-integrated steel, mining and vanadium business with operations in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Europe, USA, Canada and South Africa. The Company is currently ranked the 15th largest steel producer in the world. In 2009, Evraz produced 15.2 million tons of crude steel, 11.3 million tons of pig iron and 14.3 million tons of rolled products.