Russian mining and steelmaking company Evraz Group has announced its operational results for the first quarter this year.
Accordingly, in the first quarter of the current year, Evraz’s total crude steel production fell by 1.7 percent quarter on quarter and by 4.2 percent year on year to 3.41 million mt. In the given quarter, the company’s pig iron production decreased by 5.9 percent quarter on quarter to 2.68 million mt. The company’s crude steel and pig iron production volumes in the first quarter fell mainly due to the unscheduled downtime of the sintering machine at EVRAZ ZSMK.
In the first three months this year, the company’s output of raw coking coal increased by 7.8 percent quarter on quarter to 6.49 million mt, due to the completion of the Uskovskaya mine moving to a new longwall. While the Mezhdurechensk site’s overall output was little changed, Razrez Raspadsky increased its volumes by 120 percent quarter on quarter after resuming production in the third quarter last year.
Meanwhile, the company’s production of iron ore products in the first quarter amounted to 3.39 million mt, falling by 6.8 percent quarter on quarter.
In the first quarter, total steel sales of Evraz fell by 9.9 percent quarter on quarter to 3.07 million mt, driven primarily by lower sales of semi-finished products amid reduced steel availability due to lower pig iron production volumes. In particular, sales of semi-finished products in the given quarter declined by 17.6 percent quarter on quarter to 1.41 million mt, while sales of finished products decreased by 2.2 percent quarter on quarter to 1.66 million mt, amid better market conditions in Russia.
In the January-March period this year, external sales of coking coal products rose by one percent quarter on quarter to 2.82 million mt. In the meantime, sales of iron ore products fell by 30.1 percent quarter on quarter to 311,000 mt, amid a decline in concentrate production at EVRAZ KGOK due to severe weather conditions, which resulted in unscheduled equipment repairs.