Danube Metallurgical Works

a metallurgical enterprise in Hungary.

The Danube Metallurgical Works is located on the bank of the Danube in Dunaujváros; thus, the waterway can be used for bulk transportation of iron ore and of coking coals from the Mecsek coal basin. Construction of the plant was begun in 1950 on the basis of Soviet technical plans and equipment supplied from the USSR. Two blast furnaces, a steel production plant with two open-hearth furnaces, a power plant, a refractory brickyard, a coking plant, and concentration and sintering plants were built between 1950 and 1957. The gas produced by the coking plant is used for domestic purposes in Dunaujváros, and some of the gas is delivered by pipeline (built in 1959-60) to Budapest. The metallurgical works’ chemical plant produces sulfuric acid, artificial fertilizers, and other chemical products. With technical assistance of the Soviet Union, a hot-steel rolling mill was put into operation in 1960, and in 1965 a cold-rolling thin sheet steel mill began operations, thus eliminating the need to import sheet steel. The Danube Metallurgical Works began operating at full capacity in 1965. In 1968 it accounted for more than 40 percent of the cast iron, 30 percent of the steel, and approximately 30 percent of the rolled iron produced in Hungary. The plant is part of the state metallurgical association.