Beltrame Group starts rebar production after the acquisition of COS Targoviste

  Donalam Targoviste will be the only rebar production unit in Romania. The production capacity will reach in 2023 about 300,000 tons per year, representing about 50% of Romania's current imports. The company is in the final stage of the feasibility study for the implementation of the "green" production line, which will increase the total capacity to 700,000 - 800,000 tons of steel-concrete and rolled wire annually. Total investment over the next years: €100 million to modernise and refurbish the old plant and €100 million to build a photovoltaic park to power the production units.   After the acquisition of COS Targoviste in March this year, AFV Beltrame Group, one of the largest producers of steel bars and special steels in Europe, started the process of staff recruitment and modernization of the plant and started the production of rebar under the Donalam brand, thus reaching two steel processing plants in Calarasi and Targoviste.   The company thus becomes the only full-cycle rebar producer in Romania, supplying about half of the domestic needs in the construction sector, to end the dependence of the local market on imports from Europe and abroad. In order to relaunch the activity of the plant, Beltrame Group has so far hired about 300 employees, some of them former employees of COS Targoviste, and by the end of July it intends to reach 450 employees.   In a first phase, about 10,000 tons of rebar/month will leave the Donalam Targoviste mill, and in 2023 the production capacity will increase to about 30,000 tons/month, meaning more than 300,000 tons/year. Thus, the plant will supply Romania with about half of its domestic needs of rebar for construction, which is around 600,000 - 700,000 tons per year. At present, Romania imports all of this material from countries such as Bulgaria and Turkey.    „The restart of domestic production of rebar, an essential sector of the steel industry, is an important step towards Romania's reindustrialisation and will provide the country with a breath of oxygen in the crisis of construction materials caused by the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. With the planned investments in the modernization and development of production facilities, the Târgovi?te plant will once again become a backbone of the Romanian economy”, said Carlo Beltrame, Group Business Development at AFV Beltrame.   The Beltrame Group's vision is to transform the old steelworks into a competitive European production facility, both in terms of efficiency and the environment. Over the next 5 years around €100 million will be invested in modernising the machinery and 80% of the budget will be allocated to the purchase of technologies to reduce carbon emissions, increase energy efficiency and move towards a circular economy by reusing resources and minimising waste. By the fifth year of the investment, around 1,000 local jobs will be created. In addition to the commissioning of the former steel mill, Beltrame is in the final stages of authorising a green rebar and wire rod plant, which will also be built on the Targoviste site. The new steel mill will be the most technologically advanced in the world and will have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions in the industry. The project also includes the construction of a photovoltaic park, with an installed capacity of 100-120 MW and an energy storage system, which will supply the production units.   With the completion of this green plant, expected in 2024, the total production capacity of Donalam Targoviste will be around 700,000 - 800,000 tons of rebar and wire rod annually. In the construction sector, total domestic consumption of rebar and wire is around 1.5 million tons/year.    For 2022, the Beltrame Group estimates a turnover of around 140 million euros in Romania, a similar level to 2021.    About AFV Beltrame Group   Founded in 1896, AFV Beltrame Group is today one of the largest producers of steel bars and special steels in Europe. The Group has 7 plants in Italy, France, Switzerland and Romania, with a total of more than 2,000 employees, over 2 million tons of steel sold annually and commercial activities in over 40 countries.