Steel was a well known metal in antiquity. Homer, who lived during the 8 th century B.C., was so impressed by the properties of this metal, that he mentions it in his epic poems, even though these refer to the second millennium BC, the very well known Bronze Age. Later on, when Aristotle, referred to “an unalloyed steel”, he actually meant the whole process for the production of steel.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the production of steel in Greece developed at the ports of Syros, Volos and Piraeus, serving mainly the demand of shipping companies for anchors, chains and whatever other spare parts necessary for the repair of ships. All other steel products required by the Greek market, were imported from the industrially developed European and American countries.

The history of Halyvourgiki Inc. starts in 1925 when its founders Th. Angelopoulos and his sons Dimitris, Panagiotis and Yiannis first started trading steel products. Angelos, the elder brother followed an academic career as a professor of economics at the University of Athens, becoming finally a member of the Academy of Athens.

In 1932 they moved into production of wire products with the establishment of a wire factory at 197, Piraeus St., under the name of “Greek Wire Drawing Mills – Th. A. ANGELOPOULOS & SONS”. The wire products were used as the raw materials for the production of galvanized wire netting, nails and horseshoe nails.

In 1938, two small electric arc furnaces of a 6-8 ton capacity were installed. The steel produced was then converted into steel bars for the reinforcement of concrete. However, during the Second World War these activities were provisionally suspended.

Following the end of the war, a new business activity was initiated with the foundation of an incorporated steel company under the title “HALYVOURGIKI INC.”. In 1951 it moved to its present site near Eleusis, and in 1953 two twenty-ton electric arc furnaces were commissioned.

In 1958 a forty-ton Siemens Martin furnace was installed, while the operation of the two smaller furnaces at Piraeus Street was suspended.

Towards the end of the 50s the demand for steel increased considerably due to the extensive building reconstruction of the country, a fact which presented serious problems ten years after the civil war, when scrap, the necessary raw material for the production of steel became scarce. Importing scrap was out of the question, since the European and International steel industries were facing similar problems. At this critical moment, a very risky decision was made: the implementation of a fully integrated steel plant. Thereby, in 1961 the foundation of the first blast furnace in Greece took place. Two years later, the installation was completed and the construction of a second blast furnace began.

Simultaneously, a steel-making plant was being prepared, where hot metal would be transformed into steel in modern LD converters by utilising pure oxygen, the need for which led to the installation of three 7500 – 8000 m 3 /hr capacity oxygen plants.

Finally, on June 27 th 1963 the first blast furnace was commissioned and the production of hot metal from iron ore started.

During the period 1963 – 65 the second blast furnace followed, increasing the total capacity to above one million tons of hot metal per annum, while at the same time the following installations were constructed and commissioned: 1) coking coal ovens to cover the needs of the blast furnaces, and 2) hot and cold rolling mills for the production of hot and cold rolling coils, plates, sheets and strips.

In 1977 three 100-ton electric arc furnaces were commissioned.

During the period 1981 – 82 a modern cold rolling mill was completed and commissioned.

In 1994, HALYVOURGIKI became the first Greek company to obtain a Certificate of Conformity by ELOT (Hellenic Organisation for Standardisation) for the produced steel bars for the reinforcement of concrete.

In 2001 HALYVOURGIKI was granted certification by ELOT for its Quality Control System, on the basis of the international standard ELOT EN ISO 9002.

HALYVOURGIKI has fully benefited from a multimillion Euro investment, which began in 2001, to upgrade its production process, giving it the most up-to-date technology in the field of steel production not only in this country but also in the whole world. This state-of-the-art technology is significantly important for HALYVOURGIKI to be an industry leader in competitiveness, business flexibility and respect for its employees, society and the environment.