Metalloinvest, one of the leading global iron ore and hot briquetted iron (HBI) producers based in Russia, has announced its annual operational results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Accordingly, in the given quarter Metalloinvest's iron ore production increased by 1.2 percent quarter on quarter and was up by 7.2 percent year on year to 10.29 million mt. Its iron ore shipments declined by 18.8 percent quarter on quarter and rose by 13.4 percent year on year in the same period to 1.84 million mt.
Metalloinvest's pellet production and shipment volumes in the first quarter amounted to 7.07 million mt and 3.91 million mt, up 3.2 percent and declining by 4.3 percent respectively, both quarter on quarter. The increase in the company’s pellet production in the given quarter resulted from the scheduled major maintenance works at OEMK’s pellet plant in the last quarter of 2019 and a decrease in the maintenance work duration at pellet plant No. 3 at MGOK.
In the first quarter, Metalloinvest's crude steel production was up 2.6 percent quarter on quarter to 1.27 million mt mainly due to the increased demand for heavy plate, while its pig iron output rose by 3.1 percent to 688,000 mt, owing to the optimization of maintenance work duration.
Metalloinvest’s acting CEO Nazim Efendiev said, “In the first quarter of the current year, the company increased the output of key products compared both to the last and first quarters of 2019. The implementation of our comprehensive development programs enables us to consistently increase the share of high value-added products within our product portfolio. Meantime, the impact of the coronavirus on the steel industry in a number of regions has led us to seek alternative sales markets. China, one of the first countries to overcome the pandemic peak, is now the key driver of demand. Given our low production costs and a diversified product mix we expect the company to successfully cope with the current challenges and be able to maintain sustainable sales in the second quarter this year.”