Rautaruukki to modernise blast furnaces at its ...

Rautaruukki Corporation Stock exchange release 23 April 2009 at 12:00

Rautaruukki has decided to modernise the two blast furnaces at its
Raahe Works in Finland during 2010 and 2011. In the same context, the
company will also make environmental investments to significantly
reduce adverse environmental impacts and energy consumption at the
works. The company has also decided to restart blast furnace 1, which
was shut down in December 2008, to prepare for the disruption to
production due to downtime whilst refurbishment is being carried out
and to safeguard uninterrupted customer deliveries.


It is planned to bring modernisation of blast furnace 1 at the Raahe
Works forward by three months so that work begins in April 2010.
Rautaruukki plans to overhaul blast furnace 2 during 2011, although
bringing the modernisation of blast furnace 1 forward would also
allow the overhaul of blast furnace 2 to take place already in 2010.
Any decision to bring forward the blast furnace 2 project will be
made separately. Both blast furnaces will be shut down in turn for
around two months during the modernisation project.

In connection with the project, Rautaruukki will switch over to using
only iron pellets instead of sinter as a raw material in the
iron-making process. Because of this change, pellet conveyor systems,
receiving hoppers and a briquetting plant will be built at the works.
The sinter plant in current use will be closed down by the end of
2011.

During the modernisation project, environmental technology at the
works will be improved by, among other things, deploying more
efficient filter systems and by converting the hot water systems to
cold water ones. Closure of the sinter plant and the environmental
investments to be carried out will significantly reduce dust, sulphur
dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions, and cut energy consumption at
the works.

Domestic purchases account for major share

Investments in modernising the blast furnaces and changing the
feedstock base total around EUR 220 million. Environmental
investments of some EUR 60 million will be made in addition to this.

"These investments will enable us to safeguard the continuity of our
steel production far into the future. The investments will also have
a major regional impact on employment, since the domestic purchases
will account for almost 80 per cent of the total investments.
Domestic purchases include design and project management, structural
work, equipment purchases, workshop fabrication and installation work
totalling around EUR 220 million," says Rautaruukki Corporation's
President & CEO Sakari Tamminen.

Some EUR 55 million of the investments are scheduled for 2009, around
EUR 107 million for 2010, EUR 109 million for 2011 and the remaining
approximately EUR 10 million for 2012. The EUR 55 million investment
costs scheduled for the current year are included in the estimated
capital expenditure of around EUR 170 million announced for 2009.

Blast furnace 1 at the Raahe Works came on stream in 1964 and was
last overhauled in 1995. Blast furnace 2 came on stream in 1975 and
was last overhauled in 1996.


Restart of blast furnace currently idle

Rautaruukki will prepare for the disruption in production due to
downtime whilst modernisation is being carried out by restarting
blast furnace 1, which has been idle since early December 2008.

"The upcoming blast furnace modernisation and plans to bring it
forward call for reserve stocks to be built up to safeguard
deliveries. Furthermore, restarting the blast furnace is justified
from the slab stock management point of view so that we can ensure
customer deliveries in the near future," says Olavi Huhtala,
President, Ruukki Metals.

Work on restarting blast furnace 1 will begin immediately. The blast
furnace will reach its target production speed in about four weeks.

For further information, please contact:
Olavi Huhtala, President, Ruukki Metals, tel. [phone]
Sakari Kallo, SVP, Production, Ruukki Metals, tel. [phone]


Invitation to a press conference

The company will hold a press conference, in Finnish, about
restarting the blast furnace and the investments to be made at the
Raahe Works on Thursday 24 April starting at 1.30 pm at Rautaruukki's
Raahe Works, Rautaruukintie 155. Sakari Kallo, Senior Vice President,
Production, Ruukki Metals and Kari Ojala, Vice President, Hot-Rolled
Plate and Strip Products, will be present at the event.

For further information about the press conference, please contact:
Sari Idman, Communications Manager, Ruukki Metals, tel. [phone]
43165


Rautaruukki Corporation

Anne Pirilä
SVP, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

Rautaruukki supplies metal-based components, systems and integrated
systems to the construction and engineering industries. The company
has a wide selection of metal products and services. Rautaruukki has
operations in 26 countries and employs 14,300 people. Net sales in
2008 totalled EUR 3.9 billion. The company's share is quoted on
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (Rautaruukki Oyj: RTRKS). The Corporation uses
the marketing name Ruukki.


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www.ruukki.com


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