By 2020 Russia aims to increase its crude steel output to 90 million mt per year and to reach an annual production of 38 million mt of flats and of 37 million mt of longs, with domestic steel producers expected to continue to expand their capacities, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko has said.
According to Mr. Khristenko, in 2004-2008 Russian steelmaking companies invested $45-48 per metric ton of produced steel, exceeding the level invested by steelmakers in developed countries by almost 1.5 times.
Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade predicts that in 2015 investments in domestic steel industry modernization will amount to Ruble 200 billion (about $6.7 billion), which exceeds by 25 percent the forecasted investment total of Ruble 160 billion ($5.37 billion) for 2010. In the first half of the current year, investments in fixed assets in the Russian steel industry amounted to Ruble 60 billion ($2 billion) - up 15 percent year on year.
Russia is the fourth largest steel producing country in the world, with its crude steel output in 2009 amounting to 60 million mt, and it consistently holds a five percent share in the global steel market. The share of the steel industry in the country's economy (GDP) is around four percent, its share in Russia's exports is 6.7 percent, while its share in industrial employment is 1.2 percent.