Ukrainian mining and steel producing group Metinvest has announced that in the fourth quarter of last year its crude steel production decreased by 18 percent quarter on quarter to 1.7 million mt. In addition, in the given quarter Metinvest also produced 8.2 million mt of iron ore concentrate, remaining stable compared to the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter, the company’s coal concentrate production decreased by five percent quarter on quarter to 803,000 mt.
In the full year of 2015, Metinvest's crude steel output amounted to 7.66 million mt, down 17 percent, while iron ore concentrate output decreased by eight percent to 32.2 million mt, both year on year. In the given year, Metinvest’s coal concentrate production decreased by 20 percent to 3.28 million mt compared to the previous year.
In the fourth quarter, the group's output of finished products decreased by 21 percent to 1.24 million mt compared to the third quarter, while in 2015 the finished steel output volume declined by 17 percent year on year to 5.64 million mt.
Metinvest stated that, amid a lack of orders for steel products, its subsidiary Azovstal halted its blast furnace No. 3 on November 1 last year, while Ilyich Steel shut down its blast furnace No. 4 on November 5. These shutdowns resulted in production decreases of 114,000 mt at Azovstal and 104,000 mt at Ilyich Steel in the fourth quarter as compared to the third quarter.