In the first nine months of 2010, Romanian steelmakers' crude steel production reached the volume recorded for the full 12 months of 2009, even slightly exceeding it, equal to 70 percent of the pre-crisis output level, Romania's Financiarul.com has reported, adding that the domestic producers' recovery is, however, slower than that of EU steelmakers which have reached an output level of almost 80 percent of the pre-crisis volumes.
According to data issued by World Steel Association, in the first nine months of 2010, Romania produced about 2.96 million mt - up 53.4 percent compared to the same period of 2009, but down by 30.1 percent compared to the same period of 2008.
"Our steelmakers are adapting with more difficulty to the crisis - they should focus in particular on exports. The Romanian market does not offer them many solutions because of the lack of recovery in construction. Before the crisis, 50 percent of local steel products were delivered to the export markets and 50 percent to the domestic market. Now the balance has tipped heavily towards exports," Romanian Steel Producers' Union UniRomSider said. The steel output increase this year is mainly due to the rebound of consumption in Turkey, Romania's main steel export market. For example, according to the Institute of Statistics in Ankara, in the first half of this year Turkey's imports of flat rolled steel went up by 47 percent year on year, while their value increased by 37.3 percent year on year.
The main player in the Romanian steel market ArcelorMittal Galati, a subsidiary of the world's largest integrated metals and mining company ArcelorMittal, has recovered at a slower rage from the crisis, thus placing Romania below the European steel output average. While in the previous two years ArcelorMittal Galati was producing around 70 percent of domestic crude steel, in the first nine months of 2010 its share fell to 55 percent with production of 1.6 million mt of crude steel.
The Russian mining and steel group Mechel, which produces crude steel in Romania at two plants, Mechel Targoviste and Otelu Rosu, in the first nine months of this year has already exceeded the 2009 output levels. The steel output at Mechel Targoviste amounted to 316,000 mt, compared to 311,000 mt in the whole of 2009, while Otelu Rosu in January-September this year exceeded the respective full-year figures of 268,000 mt and 287,000 mt for 2009 and 2008. These two plants produce 21 percent of Romania's total crude steel output.
Another Russian steel group present in Romania, TMK, has also exceeded the 2009 steel output levels, producing 196,000 mt in the first nine months this year compared to 167,000 mt in the whole of 2009. The strongest recovery, however, was recorded by the Italian steel pipe producer Tenaris, with a 275 percent increase in steel production at its steel shop facilities in Calarasi, which produced 280,000 mt of crude steel in the first nine months of this year.