The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has abandoned its plans for the construction of a new steel sheet mill in the state of Ohio in the US amid doubts over the recovery of US demand for steel, the Russian newspaper Kommersant has reported.

According to MMK chief financial officer Oleg Fedonin, a return to the project might be possible but seems unlikely. Experts who were polled by Kommersant considered this decision to be reasonable.

In 2007, MMK announced its intention to build a 1.5 million mt capacity steel plant in Oregon, Ohio with a full production cycle, which would be specialized in the production of automotive coated sheet. Investment in the project was expected to reach $680 million according to some estimates, or exceed $1 billion in line with other assessments, the paper said. The company obtained the permits to begin construction, but it never broke ground and made no public comments about the situation of its plans.

If the project had been implemented, MMK would have been the third Russian steelmaker operating in the United States, after Severstal and Evraz Group.