Moscow, December 8 (Xinhua) -- According to the Russian "Northern Steel" group, "Northern Steel" has reached an agreement with Chinese companies to provide basic technical equipment to the new Cherepovets metallurgical plant under construction.

The new iron ore ball plant with an investment of 97 billion rubles is the most important and largest investment project of "Northern Steel" company. The new factory is expected to start production in 2026. This investment project involves the construction of a production base with an annual output of 1 million tons of iron ore balls.

The Russian "Northern Steel" group announced that the first batch of equipment is scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2024. Site preparation work is currently underway. The new workshop is expected to start construction in January 2024.

Northern Steel Group of Russia stated that it plans to purchase other equipment and building materials from Russian companies.

The Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant (Vologda Oblast) is one of the largest autonomous integrated steel production plants in the world.