

Home Contacts
Manufacture of titanium slabs and ingots
Manufacture Titanium Slabs, Ingots Titanium bars manufacture Titanium materials	FIKO Ltd is a private industrial company owning titanium mill producing titanium ingots and slabs with their further working into rolled titanium materials: bars, tubes, sheets, plates, wire.		Titanium bars Titanium sheets Titanium tubes
Production Slabs Titanium Ingots Grade-1/Grade-2 Ingots Ti 6AL 4V Ingots, bars Ti 5V Rotterdam Stock (ingots Ti6AL/4V) Titanium Bars and Wire Titanium Sheets Titanium Tubes Titanium Tanks Services Titan post Ultrasonic inspection and control Manufakture and supply of titanium slabs	Titanium forged slabs	Our prime production are titanium ingots and slabs single melted by electron-bean method. Our group is represented in the world titanium market for about 15 years not machined titanium ingot
We supply our products to Germany, France, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea, Turkey, India and other markets.
The range of titanium goods we can offer from our two warehouses - in Kiev (Ukraine) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands) includes: titanium ingots, titanium slabs titanium bars, forgings, circles titanium sheet, titanium plates machining of titanium ingot	Under your order we can: : 1)produce titanium ingots and seamless titanium tubes 2) design and manufacture the unique equipment with your drawings from titanium, stainless steel or other non-ferrous metals 3)design and fabricate electron-beam facility - from laboratory furnace to industrial facility 4) supply spare parts for electron-beam furnace: guns VTR-600, vacuum system, power supply system and other

Manufacture of titanium materials in Ukraine Fiko titanium ingots are produced at Fiko Electron-Beam Metallurgical plant and are melted into following titanium materials: titanium tubes, wire, bars, sheets and plates. Titanium bars are manufactured together with Joint-Stock company SUMY FRUNZE NPO and JSC DNEPROSPETSSTAL. JSC DNEPROSPETSSTAL specializes in output of stainless materials such as stainless sheets, stainless tubes and stainless bars. Fiko ltd cooperating with several plants such as VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, Nikopol titanium works in Dnepropetrovsk manufactures titanium tubes. Chelyabinsk Sells to Ukraine Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant, producer of about 60 percent of the country’s zinc, started direct sales to Ukraine and Belarus, the company said in a statement Tuesday. It will ship 5,300 tons to the Ukraine and 500 tons to Belarus in 2007, the company said. The zinc producer started sales to the Britain earlier this year and plans to ship 6,000 tons of the metal to the country in 2007. Shipments will more than triple to 20,000 tons next year, the company said. Severstal Opens U.S. Mill Severstal, the country’s largest steelmaker, started production at the 1.5-million-ton SeverCorr steel mill in Columbus, Mississippi, the company said in a statement on its web site Tuesday. SeverCorr, a venture with a team of U.S. steel executives, is producing steel for cars, pipes, construction and machines, the steelmaker said. SeverCorr will benefit from being close to new car plants being built in the south of the United States, the company said. Russia Increases Export of Non-ferrous Metals As indicated by the analysis of non-ferrous metal exports for 9 months of 2007, Russia exported 178.1 thousand tons of refined copper, including 175.1 thousand tons to overseas countries and 3 thousand tons to CIS countries. Foreign supplies of nickel in January-August amounted to 166.8 thousand tons, most of which were shipped outside of CIS countries. Export of aluminum reached 2.588 million tons. Non-ferrous Metallurgy Needs Innovative Technologies The IV international scientific and practical conference 'Modern Technologies in Non-ferrous Metals Production and Processing' will be held on November 15, in the frame of the exhibition 'Metall-Expo 2007'. The issues proposed for the discussion include prospective technologies of copper and zinc production, use of innovative metal cutting equipment for cold and hot cutting of titanium and nickel alloys, methods of processing of different metallurgical wastes, use of aluminum alloys in automotive industry. TIMET is the main manufacturer of titanium ingots in USA. Titanium ingots are melted by electron-beam method Titanium ingots are melted by vacuum arc method TIMET manufacture following titanium materials from titanium ingots: titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates. VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation is the main manufacturer of titanium ingots and all kinds of semi finished items (titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates) from titanium alloys in Russia. FIKO LTD is the main manufacturer and supplier of titanium ingots and all kinds of semi-finished items (titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates) from titanium alloys in Ukraine. Fiko ltd manufactures titanium ingots of following titanium grades: titanium ingot Grade 1, titanium ingots Grade 2, titanium ingot Ti6Al/4V and titanium ingot Alloy 5V. Fiko ltd cooperating with other mills produce titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates from its titanium ingots. TIMET and Carpenter Technology enter into long-term joint supply and processing agreements Titanium Metals Corporation ("TIMET") and Carpenter Technology Corporation Thursday announced joint agreements under which TIMET will supply Carpenter with titanium metal and scrap melting services and Carpenter will provide specialized titanium conversion processing to TIMET. Under the supply agreement, TIMET will supply Carpenter with titanium metal and toll melting services for Carpenter's titanium scrap at agreed upon prices for a minimum of 12 years and a maximum of 20 years. Under terms of the processing agreement covering the same period, Carpenter will provide TIMET with forging and related processing services at agreed upon prices for TIMET's titanium products. Financial terms of the two agreements were not disclosed. Steven L. Watson, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TIMET, said "We are very pleased to expand our relationship with Carpenter by entering into these mutually beneficial agreements. TIMET will gain access to significant forging capacity that will allow us to continue to serve the expanding needs of our customers under long-term agreements. These strategic agreements further demonstrate TIMET's commitment to achieve profitable growth for our shareholders by adding production capacity in a cost efficient manner and leveraging our position as a leading producer of titanium mill and melted products." "These agreements provide considerable benefits to both companies and to our customers," said Anne L. Stevens, Chairman and Chief executive Officer of Carpenter. "We are excited about the opportunity to work jointly with TIMET which is one of the premier companies within the titanium industry." "Together, these agreements help to utilize capacity and increase the operating efficiency of Carpenter's processing operations in Reading, Pennsylvania and represent a long-term source of titanium for our Dynamet subsidiary. The agreements leverage the capabilities of Carpenter and TIMET and set an example of the productive collaborations Carpenter will pursue as part of its strategic growth plan," said Stevens. TIMET and Carpenter Technology enter into long-term joint supply and processing agreements Titanium Metals Corporation ("TIMET") and Carpenter Technology Corporation Thursday announced joint agreements under which TIMET will supply Carpenter with titanium metal and scrap melting services and Carpenter will provide specialized titanium conversion processing to TIMET. Under the supply agreement, TIMET will supply Carpenter with titanium metal and toll melting services for Carpenter's titanium scrap at agreed upon prices for a minimum of 12 years and a maximum of 20 years. Under terms of the processing agreement covering the same period, Carpenter will provide TIMET with forging and related processing services at agreed upon prices for TIMET's titanium products. Financial terms of the two agreements were not disclosed. Steven L. Watson, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TIMET, said "We are very pleased to expand our relationship with Carpenter by entering into these mutually beneficial agreements. TIMET will gain access to significant forging capacity that will allow us to continue to serve the expanding needs of our customers under long-term agreements. These strategic agreements further demonstrate TIMET's commitment to achieve profitable growth for our shareholders by adding production capacity in a cost efficient manner and leveraging our position as a leading producer of titanium mill and melted products." "These agreements provide considerable benefits to both companies and to our customers," said Anne L. Stevens, Chairman and Chief executive Officer of Carpenter. "We are excited about the opportunity to work jointly with TIMET which is one of the premier companies within the titanium industry." "Together, these agreements help to utilize capacity and increase the operating efficiency of Carpenter's processing operations in Reading, Pennsylvania and represent a long-term source of titanium for our Dynamet subsidiary. The agreements leverage the capabilities of Carpenter and TIMET and set an example of the productive collaborations Carpenter will pursue as part of its strategic growth plan," said Stevens.	Titanium Corporation provides update on heavy mineral recovery Titanium Corporation Inc. is pleased to provide an update on the progress of its oil sands tailings project following the filing of its quarterly and annual financial statements for the year ended August 31, 2007. The past year culminated more than two years of process design, testing and on-site piloting. The results include a new expanded opportunity to integrate bitumen and heavy mineral recovery from mined oil sands tailings as well as some new challenges. Processing fresh tailings has proven complex and is taking more time than originally anticipated. After an extensive review of these results, the Company reports as follows: – Recovery of minerals and bitumen from tailings goes hand-in-hand dueto technical and economic factors – Our concentrator technology achieved high levels of mineral recovery during the on-site pilot – Zircon and high grade leucoxene are the primary valuable minerals in the concentrate – Further removal of bitumen from minerals is required for effective mineral separation processing – The base technology needs to be enhanced and new technology developed to recover more bitumen from the tailings stream The Company's operations during fiscal 2007 focused on mineral concentration, bitumen removal and recovery and mineral separation as discussed below. Mineral Concentration: Utilizing bulk sample material from the prior year's on TIMET is the main manufacturer of titanium ingots in USA. Titanium ingots are melted by electron-beam method Titanium ingots are melted by vacuum arc method TIMET manufacture following titanium materials from titanium ingots: titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates. VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation is the main manufacturer of titanium ingots and all kinds of semi finished items (titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates) from titanium alloys in Russia. FIKO LTD is the main manufacturer and supplier of titanium ingots and all kinds of semi-finished items (titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates) from titanium alloys in Ukraine. Fiko ltd manufactures titanium ingots of following titanium grades: titanium ingot Grade 1, titanium ingots Grade 2, titanium ingot Ti6Al/4V and titanium ingot Alloy 5V. Fiko ltd cooperating with other mills produce titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates from its titanium ingots. China will lift the export tax on steel products on Jan. 1 next year, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced today. China will increase the export tax on coal, metal ore, coke, ferroalloy, steel billet and certain steel products in the New Year in order to curb the country's growing trade surplus and to further strengthen its control over the domestic steelmaking industry, which consumes vast amounts of energy and is highly polluting, MOF announced today. A detailed list of the tax adjustment for each product will be released in the near future, the MOF said. "Beijing will raise the export tax on steel billet from the current level of 20 percent to 25 percent, and on long products, such as rebar and wire, from 10 percent at present to 15 percent on Jan. 1. The policy has been long discussed by government departments, who are eager to put the lid on China's ballooning trade surplus," a source close to the situation, who wished to remain anonymous, previously told Interfax. However, the export tax on cold-rolled sheet will remain unchanged next year, the source said. China's growing steel product exports have recently come under fire from both foreign steel mills and governments for receiving Chinese government subsidies. The European Union kicked off an investigation last Friday to determine whether Chinese steel products are undercutting prices in the European market and damaging the interests of local steel mills, China's Ministry of Commerce announced last Saturday. China exported 57.85 million tons of steel products in the first 11 months of this year, up 54.5 percent from the same period last year. However, China's steel product exports continued to slow last month, dipping 3.30 percent from October to 4.10 million tons, representing the fifth consecutive monthly fall since July this year, according to preliminary statistics released by the General Administration of Customs. China's trade surplus jumped 52.2 percent year-on-year to $238.13 billion in the first 11 months of this year, with the surplus in November growing 14.7 percent year-on-year to $26.28 billion. Nippon Steel Corporation (principal place of business: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Akio Mimura) ("Nippon Steel"), Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (principal place of business: Chuo-ku, Osaka, President: Hiroshi Tomono) ("Sumitomo Metals"), and Kobe Steel, Ltd. (principal place of business: Chuo-ku, Kobe, President: Yasuo Inubushi) ("Kobe Steel") reached agreement at the end of October this year to consider ways of further expanding and enhancing their cooperative ties and additional cross-purchase of shares. The three companies have proceeded with consideration of these courses of action and now reached the following agreement regarding the additional cross-purchase of shares. The companies share the view that increased cross-shareholdings will be effective in promoting smooth and steady implementation of strategic cooperative measures, such as the mutual use and sharing of core production facilities, and will assist the companies in pursuing the mutual benefits of these arrangements based on relationships of trust. The three companies have already begun to consider ways of further expanding and enhancing mutual cooperation as agreed upon at the end of October this year. They will actively proceed with the joint consideration of these measures and move toward the implementation Abundance of Titanium Last year was a successful one for the Verkhnesaldinsky Metallurgical Company (now the Saldinsky branch of “Corporation VSMPO-Avisma'”). Its share on the world market is more than 25%. The proceeds grew by 2.2 billion roubles, reaching 10.5 billion roubles, net profit increased by 400 million roubles, reaching 1.6 billion roubles. The growth of production volumes amounted to 26%, or up to 20.1 thousand tons. This increase was mainly due to the export of titanium rolled metal and ferrotitanium. The prices of ferrotitanium used in steel production last year doubled from $6 to $11-12 per one kilogram, and in the beginning of 2005 to $14.7-15. Last year the corporation sold foreign partners 68% of its produce. Besides, the export of titanium alloys for medicinal purposes increased by 18%. The corporation shareholders also changed the structure of production in favour of goods of a greater value. The share of stamping goods grew from 10 to 15%, the production of slabs to 11%, and bars and pipes to 23%. This year brought more orders from the aviation industry. According to the data of the analytical group “The Airline Monitor”, the leading airplane producers, Boeing and Airbus, will manufacture 760 planes in 2006; 790 planes in 2007, and in 2008, 815. The general director of “Avisma”, Vladislav Tetyukhin, has said that the corporation intends to increase its share in the order portfolio of Boeing and Airbus from 30-40% to 70% by 2008. It is planned to increase demand for titanium and alloys in Russian ship-building. In the nuclear energy sector there is a growing demand for titanium pipes and rolled stock. The oil sector also requires more rolled stock, which is necessary for building sea platforms for oil extraction. *Fiko Electron Beam Metallurgical plant takes orders for manufacture:* 1. Titanium ingots: - Titanium ingots dia. 370-630mm ASTM Grade1, Grade2, Ti6Al/4V - In case you need moderate quantity of titanium ingots so we can take orders for one titanium ingot initially - Supply titanium ingots with oxygen content 0,04-0,08 and 0,10 and more 2. Titanium bars: - Titanium bars ASTM Grade1, titanium bars Grade2, titanium bars Grade5, titanium bars Ti6Al/4V - Titanium bars for shipbuilding industry ASTM Grade 9, Alloy 5V - In case you need one titanium bars we are ready to deliver it for you by TNT or DHL or we could cut titanium bar into billets - Supply of titanium bar for sputtering 3. Titanium tubes: - Titanium seamless tubes ASTM Grade2; ASTM Grade1, ASTM Grade Ti6Al/4V - Titanium tubes for shipbuilding industry - If you are under current repair and you need only one titanium tube so we would deliver titanium tube by TNT or DHL - Titanium tubes for sputtering. We have on stock following titanium tube for sputtering: Titanium tube dia. 61x 11mm Titanium tube dia. 60x 12.5mm Titanium tube dia. 60x 14mm Moreover we have titanium tubes dia. 10x 1.0mm to dia.168x 14mm in availability. - Take orders for manufacture of thick-walled titanium tubes dia. 114x 14mm and others.

Manufacture of titanium slabs and ingots

Titanium bars manufacture
Titanium materials

FIKO Ltd is a private industrial company owning titanium mill producing titanium ingots and slabs with their further working into rolled titanium materials: bars, tubes, sheets, plates, wire.

Titanium bars

titanium sheets

Titanium sheets

titanium tube

Titanium tubes

Production

Slabs

Titanium Ingots Grade-1/Grade-2

Ingots Ti 6AL 4V

Ingots, bars Ti 5V

Rotterdam Stock (ingots Ti6AL/4V)

Titanium Bars and Wire

Titanium Sheets

Titanium Tubes

Titanium Tanks

Services

Titan post

Ultrasonic inspection and control

Manufakture and supply of titanium slabs

titanium slabs

Titanium forged slabs

Our prime production are titanium ingots and slabs single melted by electron-bean method.

Our group is represented in the world titanium market for about 15 years

not machined titanium ingot

We supply our products to Germany, France, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea, Turkey, India and other markets.

The range of titanium goods we can offer from our two warehouses - in Kiev (Ukraine) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands) includes:

titanium ingots, titanium slabs
titanium bars, forgings, circles
titanium sheet, titanium plates

machining of titanium ingot

Under your order we can: :

1)produce titanium ingots and seamless titanium tubes

2) design and manufacture the unique equipment with your drawings from titanium, stainless steel or other non-ferrous metals

3)design and fabricate electron-beam facility - from laboratory furnace to industrial facility

4) supply spare parts for electron-beam furnace: guns VTR-600, vacuum system, power supply system and other

Manufacture of titanium materials in Ukraine

Fiko titanium ingots are produced at Fiko Electron-Beam Metallurgical plant and are melted into following titanium materials: titanium tubes, wire, bars, sheets and plates.

Titanium bars are manufactured together with Joint-Stock company SUMY FRUNZE NPO and JSC DNEPROSPETSSTAL.

JSC DNEPROSPETSSTAL specializes in output of stainless materials such as stainless sheets, stainless tubes and stainless bars.

Fiko ltd cooperating with several plants such as VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, Nikopol titanium works in Dnepropetrovsk manufactures titanium tubes.

Chelyabinsk Sells to Ukraine

Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant, producer of about 60 percent of the country’s zinc, started direct sales to Ukraine and Belarus, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
It will ship 5,300 tons to the Ukraine and 500 tons to Belarus in 2007, the company said. The zinc producer started sales to the Britain earlier this year and plans to ship 6,000 tons of the metal to the country in 2007. Shipments will more than triple to 20,000 tons next year, the company said.

Severstal Opens U.S. Mill

Severstal, the country’s largest steelmaker, started production at the 1.5-million-ton SeverCorr steel mill in Columbus, Mississippi, the company said in a statement on its web site Tuesday.
SeverCorr, a venture with a team of U.S. steel executives, is producing steel for cars, pipes, construction and machines, the steelmaker said. SeverCorr will benefit from being close to new car plants being built in the south of the United States, the company said.

Russia Increases Export of Non-ferrous Metals

As indicated by the analysis of non-ferrous metal exports for 9 months of 2007, Russia exported 178.1 thousand tons of refined copper, including 175.1 thousand tons to overseas countries and 3 thousand tons to CIS countries. Foreign supplies of nickel in January-August amounted to 166.8 thousand tons, most of which were shipped outside of CIS countries. Export of aluminum reached 2.588 million tons.

Non-ferrous Metallurgy Needs Innovative Technologies

The IV international scientific and practical conference 'Modern Technologies in Non-ferrous Metals Production and Processing' will be held on November 15, in the frame of the exhibition 'Metall-Expo 2007'. The issues proposed for the discussion include prospective technologies of copper and zinc production, use of innovative metal cutting equipment for cold and hot cutting of titanium and nickel alloys, methods of processing of different metallurgical wastes, use of aluminum alloys in automotive industry.

TIMET is the main manufacturer of titanium ingots in USA.

Titanium ingots are melted by electron-beam method

Titanium ingots are melted by vacuum arc method

TIMET manufacture following titanium materials from titanium ingots:

titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates.

VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation is the main manufacturer of titanium ingots and all kinds of semi finished items (titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates) from titanium alloys in Russia.

FIKO LTD is the main manufacturer and supplier of titanium ingots and all kinds of semi-finished items (titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates) from titanium alloys in Ukraine. Fiko ltd manufactures titanium ingots of following titanium grades: titanium ingot Grade 1, titanium ingots Grade 2, titanium ingot Ti6Al/4V and titanium ingot Alloy 5V.

Fiko ltd cooperating with other mills produce titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates from its titanium ingots.

TIMET and Carpenter Technology enter into long-term joint supply and processing agreements

Titanium Metals Corporation ("TIMET") and Carpenter Technology Corporation Thursday announced joint agreements under which TIMET will supply Carpenter with titanium metal and scrap melting services and Carpenter will provide specialized titanium conversion processing to TIMET.

Under the supply agreement, TIMET will supply Carpenter with titanium metal and toll melting services for Carpenter's titanium scrap at agreed upon prices for a minimum of 12 years and a maximum of 20 years. Under terms of the processing agreement covering the same period, Carpenter will provide TIMET with forging and related processing services at agreed upon prices for TIMET's titanium products. Financial terms of the two agreements were not disclosed.

Steven L. Watson, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TIMET, said "We are very pleased to expand our relationship with Carpenter by entering into these mutually beneficial agreements. TIMET will gain access to significant forging capacity that will allow us to continue to serve the expanding needs of our customers under long-term agreements. These strategic agreements further demonstrate TIMET's commitment to achieve profitable growth for our shareholders by adding production capacity in a cost efficient manner and leveraging our position as a leading producer of titanium mill and melted products."

"These agreements provide considerable benefits to both companies and to our customers," said Anne L. Stevens, Chairman and Chief executive Officer of Carpenter. "We are excited about the opportunity to work jointly with TIMET which is one of the premier companies within the titanium industry."

"Together, these agreements help to utilize capacity and increase the operating efficiency of Carpenter's processing operations in Reading, Pennsylvania and represent a long-term source of titanium for our Dynamet subsidiary. The agreements leverage the capabilities of Carpenter and TIMET and set an example of the productive collaborations Carpenter will pursue as part of its strategic growth plan," said Stevens.

TIMET and Carpenter Technology enter into long-term joint supply and processing agreements

Titanium Corporation provides update on heavy mineral recovery

Titanium Corporation Inc. is pleased to provide an update on the progress of its oil sands tailings project following the filing of its quarterly and annual financial statements for the year ended August 31, 2007.

The past year culminated more than two years of process design, testing and on-site piloting. The results include a new expanded opportunity to integrate bitumen and heavy mineral recovery from mined oil sands tailings as well as some new challenges. Processing fresh tailings has proven complex and is taking more time than originally anticipated. After an extensive review of these results, the Company reports as follows:

– Recovery of minerals and bitumen from tailings goes

hand-in-hand dueto technical and economic factors
– Our concentrator technology achieved high

levels of mineral recovery during the on-site pilot
– Zircon and high grade leucoxene are the primary

valuable minerals in the concentrate
– Further removal of bitumen from minerals

is required for effective mineral separation processing
– The base technology needs to be enhanced and new

technology developed to recover more bitumen from the

tailings stream

The Company's operations during fiscal 2007 focused on mineral concentration, bitumen removal and recovery and mineral separation as discussed below.

Mineral Concentration:

Utilizing bulk sample material from the prior year's on

TIMET is the main manufacturer of titanium ingots in USA.

Titanium ingots are melted by electron-beam method

Titanium ingots are melted by vacuum arc method

TIMET manufacture following titanium materials from titanium ingots:

titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates.

Fiko ltd cooperating with other mills produce titanium bars, titanium tubes, titanium wire, titanium sheets and titanium plates from its titanium ingots.

China will lift the export tax on steel products on Jan. 1 next year, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced today.

China will increase the export tax on coal, metal ore, coke, ferroalloy, steel billet and certain steel products in the New Year in order to curb the country's growing trade surplus and to further strengthen its control over the domestic steelmaking industry, which consumes vast amounts of energy and is highly polluting, MOF announced today.

A detailed list of the tax adjustment for each product will be released in the near future, the MOF said.

"Beijing will raise the export tax on steel billet from the current level of 20 percent to 25 percent, and on long products, such as rebar and wire, from 10 percent at present to 15 percent on Jan. 1. The policy has been long discussed by government departments, who are eager to put the lid on China's ballooning trade surplus," a source close to the situation, who wished to remain anonymous, previously told Interfax.

However, the export tax on cold-rolled sheet will remain unchanged next year, the source said.

China's growing steel product exports have recently come under fire from both foreign steel mills and governments for receiving Chinese government subsidies. The European Union kicked off an investigation last Friday to determine whether Chinese steel products are undercutting prices in the European market and damaging the interests of local steel mills, China's Ministry of Commerce announced last Saturday.

China exported 57.85 million tons of steel products in the first 11 months of this year, up 54.5 percent from the same period last year. However, China's steel product exports continued to slow last month, dipping 3.30 percent from October to 4.10 million tons, representing the fifth consecutive monthly fall since July this year, according to preliminary statistics released by the General Administration of Customs.

China's trade surplus jumped 52.2 percent year-on-year to $238.13 billion in the first 11 months of this year, with the surplus in November growing 14.7 percent year-on-year to $26.28 billion.

Nippon Steel Corporation (principal place of business: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Akio Mimura) ("Nippon Steel"), Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (principal place of business: Chuo-ku, Osaka, President: Hiroshi Tomono) ("Sumitomo Metals"), and Kobe Steel, Ltd. (principal place of business: Chuo-ku, Kobe, President: Yasuo Inubushi) ("Kobe Steel") reached agreement at the end of October this year to consider ways of further expanding and enhancing their cooperative ties and additional cross-purchase of shares. The three companies have proceeded with consideration of these courses of action and now reached the following agreement regarding the additional cross-purchase of shares. The companies share the view that increased cross-shareholdings will be effective in promoting smooth and steady implementation of strategic cooperative measures, such as the mutual use and sharing of core production facilities, and will assist the companies in pursuing the mutual benefits of these arrangements based on relationships of trust.

The three companies have already begun to consider ways of further expanding and enhancing mutual cooperation as agreed upon at the end of October this year. They will actively proceed with the joint consideration of these measures and move toward the implementation

Abundance of Titanium

Last year was a successful one for the Verkhnesaldinsky Metallurgical Company (now the Saldinsky branch of “Corporation VSMPO-Avisma'”). Its share on the world market is more than 25%. The proceeds grew by 2.2 billion roubles, reaching 10.5 billion roubles, net profit increased by 400 million roubles, reaching 1.6 billion roubles. The growth of production volumes amounted to 26%, or up to 20.1 thousand tons. This increase was mainly due to the export of titanium rolled metal and ferrotitanium. The prices of ferrotitanium used in steel production last year doubled from $6 to $11-12 per one kilogram, and in the beginning of 2005 to $14.7-15.

Last year the corporation sold foreign partners 68% of its produce. Besides, the export of titanium alloys for medicinal purposes increased by 18%. The corporation shareholders also changed the structure of production in favour of goods of a greater value. The share of stamping goods grew from 10 to 15%, the production of slabs to 11%, and bars and pipes to 23%.

This year brought more orders from the aviation industry. According to the data of the analytical group “The Airline Monitor”, the leading airplane producers, Boeing and Airbus, will manufacture 760 planes in 2006; 790 planes in 2007, and in 2008, 815. The general director of “Avisma”, Vladislav Tetyukhin, has said that the corporation intends to increase its share in the order portfolio of Boeing and Airbus from 30-40% to 70% by 2008. It is planned to increase demand for titanium and alloys in Russian ship-building. In the nuclear energy sector there is a growing demand for titanium pipes and rolled stock. The oil sector also requires more rolled stock, which is necessary for building sea platforms for oil extraction.

Fiko Electron Beam Metallurgical plant takes orders for manufacture:

1. Titanium ingots:

- Titanium ingots dia. 370-630mm ASTM Grade1, Grade2, Ti6Al/4V

- In case you need moderate quantity of titanium ingots so we can take orders for one titanium ingot initially

- Supply titanium ingots with oxygen content 0,04-0,08 and 0,10 and more

2. Titanium bars:

- Titanium bars ASTM Grade1, titanium bars Grade2, titanium bars Grade5, titanium bars Ti6Al/4V

- Titanium bars for shipbuilding industry ASTM Grade 9, Alloy 5V

- In case you need one titanium bars we are ready to deliver it for you by TNT or DHL or we could cut titanium bar into billets

- Supply of titanium bar for sputtering

3. Titanium tubes:

- Titanium seamless tubes ASTM Grade2; ASTM Grade1, ASTM Grade Ti6Al/4V

- Titanium tubes for shipbuilding industry

- If you are under current repair and you need only one titanium tube so we would deliver titanium tube by TNT or DHL

- Titanium tubes for sputtering. We have on stock following titanium tube for sputtering:

Titanium tube dia. 61x 11mm

Titanium tube dia. 60x 12.5mm

Titanium tube dia. 60x 14mm

Moreover we have titanium tubes dia. 10x 1.0mm to dia.168x 14mm

in availability.

- Take orders for manufacture of thick-walled titanium tubes dia. 114x

14mm and others.