Russia continues to increase steel exports

Russian exports of ferrous metal products increased on an annualized basis in January-August, while the volume of exports of raw materials changed in the other direction.

Exports of steel products in August remained at 2.47 million tons, but increased by 14.3% year on year. Steel exports for the eight-month period amounted to 30.31 million tons, which is 12.3% more compared to the same period last year, due to an increase in the supply of semi-finished steel products.

Exports of semi-finished products increased by 8.7% year-on-year in August to 1.18 million tons, while exports in January-August increased by 14.1% to 10.69 million tons. Pig iron exports in August were down 38.1% month-on-month, but up 57.7% year-on-year, resulting in a 33.4% increase in shipments in eight months.

Iron ore exports fell 18.3% year-on-year in Jan-Aug to 11.42 million tonnes. Exports of coking coal of 1.8 million tonnes fell by 9.8% in January-August, despite an increase of 16.8% in August.

Imports of ferrous metal products to Russia in January-August increased by 15.2% to 5.05 million tons, as steel imports increased by 5.3% to 4 million tons. Eight-month imports of iron ore fell 8.4% to 5.2 million tons.