NLMK Europe appoints Askon as an exclusive QUARD® Ambassador member for Türkiye: a step towards enhanced market collaboration.

The Plate division of NLMK Europe proudly announces the appointment of Askon Demir Çelik as an exclusive member of the global QUARD® Ambassador program for the Turkish market, effective from February 1, 2024. This initiative marks a new era of partnership between NLMK Europe, Askon Demir Çelik, and NLMK Turkey.

The QUARD® Ambassador program has been established to enhance the market presence of QUARD® and QUEND®, NLMK Europe’s two Quenched and Tempered plate brands. QUARD® is renowned for its superior abrasion resistance, ideal for heavy-duty applications in harsh environments. QUEND® plates, on the other hand, are recognized for their exceptional structural resistance, making them suitable for demanding applications that require high-yield strength such as crane booms and chassis of heavy-duty machinery.

The partnership with Askon Demir Çelik corresponds with NLMK Europe’s strategy of collaborating with well-established organizations, offering them comprehensive support in areas such as strategy, technical expertise, and marketing. This collaboration represents a major advancement in establishing a stronger position for QUARD® and QUEND® plates in Türkiye’s high-quality steel plate sector, strengthening the company’s market presence through Askon Demir Çelik’s market experience, their professional tool-based solutions for steel servicing and dedicated sales team.

Okan Konyalioğlu, Chairman of Askon Demir Çelik, shared his enthusiasm about the agreement: “We are ardent and excited to represent and distribute QUARD® and QUEND® in Türkiye by the help of our 92 years’ experience. Our confidence is strong in our ability to generate a market dynamic that will benefit all the parties.”

Peter Selbach, Chief Commercial Officer at NLMK Europe – Plate, commented on the partnership: “Joining forces with Askon Demir Çelik embodies a joint effort to supply high-quality products to the Turkish industrial sector. This initiative is a significant step in promoting QUARD® and QUEND® as premium plate products beyond the EU, which definitely contributes to broaden our global market presence. We have always recognized the industry in Türkiye being open to innovation and product development”.

“NLMK Turkey is happy to support the efforts of our European Plate Division in Türkiye and work closely together with our partner Askon to further grow our local market presence in a strategic market for our company”, adds Mustafa Yilmaz, General Manager of NLMK Turkey.

Klaudiusz Raszka, Program Manager of the QUARD® Ambassador, added, “This partnership marks the beginning of a promising journey. We are confident that this collaboration will lead to significant achievements in the market.”

The partnership between NLMK Europe and Askon Demir Çelik, establishing Askon as the exclusive QUARD® Ambassador in Türkiye, marks an important change in the Turkish market for quenched and tempered plates. This alliance reinforces Askon’s position as a leading company in Türkiye and consolidates QUARD® and QUEND® as global premium brands. NLMK Team will be locally supported by specialists from NLMK Turkey.

About NLMK Clabecq
NLMK Clabecq is the leading Belgian producer of thin premium steel plates. Customers of NLMK Clabecq enjoy superior surface quality, excellent flatness, and tight thickness tolerances of plates, thanks to the mill’s extensive technical expertise coupled with a unique combination of equipment. This equipment includes a reversible quarto mill, a newly revamped continuous finishing mill with four independent stands, and a state-of-the-art accelerated cooling system on the same line, as well as a modern quenching and tempering unit (Q&T).

About Askon Demir Çelik
Askon Demir Çelik started its commercial life in 1932 as a small family business with horse carriage repair and manufacturing. Askon Demir Çelik has evolved into one of the most advanced Steel Service Centers, with a total of more than 600 employees in 5 different facilities in Türkiye and 2 locations in the USA. As a crucial international solution partner, Askon specializes in providing and processing wear plates, high-strength steels, and special/commercial quality steels to meet the mechanical/component sheet manufacturing needs of OEMs and end-users globally. In the heavy industrial manufacturing sector, Askon Demir exports to 32 countries across five continents and engages in e-export to 69 countries on six continents through its subsidiaries—Artepera, Wall Art Istanbul, and Oobje—established in 2018.

About NLMK Turkey
NLMK Turkey is a trading unit of NLMK, a manufacturer of steel and rolled products with domestic facilities in Russia, the EU and the US. NLMK Turkey manages export supplies of steel products manufactured at all Group companies, handling over 20 types of steel products, including steel plate, hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanised, pre-painted, electrical steel, pig iron and slabs.