CIS steel production in March and Q1 2015

Steel production in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) declined 9.6 percent during March on an annualized basis, according to data released by the World Steel Association.

The total volume of crude steel production in Belarus increased by 3.0 percent in March this year to 232 thousand tons, compared with 225 thousand tons in March 2014. Kazakhstan produced 344 thousand tons of steel, which indicates a significant increase, by 15.1 percent, compared with 299 thousand tons of products achieved during March last year. The total volume of crude steel production in Russia increased slightly, by 0.2 percent, to 5988 thousand tons in March this year, compared to 5 978 thousand tons in March last year.

In March, there was a sharp decline in steel production in Ukraine. The total steel production in Ukraine decreased by 35.6 percent to 1,696 thousand tons in March 2015 compared to the output of 2,635 thousand tons in the same period last year. In addition, Uzbekistan's steel production fell 2.4 percent during the month. Moldova has also significantly reduced steel output compared to the previous year.

Cumulative data on steel production for the first three months in 2015 compared to the same period in 2014: Belarus - 646 thousand tons (+16.8 percent), Kazakhstan - 804 thousand tons (-4.8 percent), Moldova - 40 thousand tons (-44.2 percent), Russia - 17 976 thousand tons (+ 4.5 percent), Ukraine 5153 thousand tons (-31.5 percent), Uzbekistan - 171 thousand tons (-3.3 percent).