MMK announces production results for the steel segment

In the 1st quarter of 2015, the supply of finished products amounted to 2,844 thousand tons, which is 2.4 percent higher on a quarterly basis. This growth was driven by an increase in sales of long products, hot rolled steel, plate and color coated steel.

Despite the winter period, which is usually characterized by low demand for construction products, sales of long products in Q1 2015 were almost in line with the previous quarter at 440 thousand tonnes. Wire rod, reinforcement , square, hexagon, strip have maintained a high level of supplies.

In January-February 2015, the attractiveness of export sales improved, and therefore, the company increased its export deliveries to 647 thousand tons, which is 47.2 percent higher compared to the previous quarter. The share of export sales in the total sales structure increased to 22.7 percent. The increase in exports led to an increase in sales of hot-rolled steel in Q1 2015 by 44 thousand tonnes, or 3.5 percent qoq.

At the same time, there was a decrease in sales of hot-rolled steel by 4.5 percent in annual terms in Q1 2015, which is explained by an increase in the share of sales of products with high added value from 36 to 39 percent. Deliveries of such products in Q1 2015 increased by 78 thousand tons or 7.6 percent year on year. There was an increase in the supply of sheet metal, cold-rolled strip and polymer-coated products.

Sales of galvanized products in Q1 2015, despite a 6.9% quarter-on-quarter decline (due to increased sales of coated polymer products), remained strong and exceeded the corresponding results for Q1 2014 by 13%. Thick plate sales increased by 11.5 percent compared to Q4 2014 and by 34.3 percent compared to Q1 2014