According to the data issued by Russia's Ministry of Economic Development, in the first five months of 2010 Russia registered a 25 percent increase in its crude steel production to 27.3 million metric tons, and a 23 percent growth in its finished steel output to 23.4 million mt, both compared to the same period last year.
According to preliminary data issued by Russian steel producers, in January-May 2010 Evraz Group's subsidiary West-Siberian Steel Works (ZapSib) increased its finished steel output by 39.6 percent to 2.359 million mt, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) raised its finished steel product output by 36.9 percent to 4.283 million mt, Severstal Cherepovets - by 29.7 percent to 4.116 million mt, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) - by 22 percent to 3.601 million mt, and Mechel's Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant - by 2.9 percent to 1.269 million mt, all compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, during the period in question, year-on-year decreases in their finished steel product outputs were registered by Evraz's Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works (NTMK) - down 1.6 percent to 1.449 million mt, Metalloinvest's Oskol Elektrometallurgical Plant - down 2.8 percent to 1.167 million mt, Metalloinvest's Ural Steel - down 4.4 percent to 1.053 million mt, and Evraz's Novokuznetsk Iron and Steel Plant - down 9.5 percent to 550,000 mt, all compared to January-May 2009.
In January-April this year, Russia's exports of rolled steel products increased by 22.8 percent year on year to 10.6 million mt, including 3.51 million mt of flats - up 19.5 percent, 1.43 million mt of longs - up seven percent, and 5.64 million mt of semis - up 29.4 percent. Meanwhile, the country's imports of rolled steel products in January-April 2010, went up by 64.9 percent year on year to 1.44 million mt, including 0.91 million mt of flats - up 58.6 percent, and 0.46 million mt of longs - up by two times compared to the data for the same period last year.
"These data show that the capacity of the domestic rolled steel products market in January-April 2010 (without warehouse stocks) increased by 59.4 percent year on year...At the same time, the expansion of domestic consumption of longs (4.62 million mt - up 61.5 percent) is above the growth rate of flats (6.35 million mt - up 57.8 percent)," reads the ministry's statement.