The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced that in the Russian domestic market in 2009 its trading company MMK Trading House sold 1.2 million mt of rolled steel products, which represents 28 percent of MMK's overall domestic sales and 12-13 percent of Russia's total regional distribution.
Accordingly, Russia's consumption of rolled steel products in 2009 is estimated at 26.5 million mt. In 2009, MMK delivered a total of 4.3 million mt of rolled steel products to the domestic market, including 1.2 million shipped by MMK Trading House.
The main sales of MMK Trading House were directed to Russia's Ural region, to where it shipped about 400,000 mt of rolled steel products, i.e., 33 percent of its total sales, and to the country's Central and Siberian regions, to where it delivered 280,000 mt (30 percent) and about 200,000 mt (19 percent) of rolled steel products respectively. The remaining regions accounted for 12 percent of its total shipments.
In addition to rolled steel products, MMK Trading House also sells hardware products. The estimated capacity of Russia's hardware market in 2009 amounted to 1.4 million mt. In 2009, MMK's hardware producing subsidiary MMK-Metiz sold 205,000 mt of products in the domestic market, half of which were shipped through MMK Trading House. Thus, MMK's trading division in 2009 accounted for seven percent of Russia's hardware market.
As regards the future, by mid-to-late 2011 MMK Trading House plans to sell up to 200,000 mt of steel products per month from its warehouses, which is approximately 60-70 percent of MMK's overall sales in the domestic spot market.