In the first two months of 2009, Russia registered a 35.4 percent decrease in its crude steel production year on year to 8.2 million metric tons.
During the period in question, Russia produced 6.3 million metric tons of pig iron - down 30.8 percent, 6.6 million metric tons of semi-finished products - down 26.7 percent, 4.4 million metric tons of long products - down 27.9 percent, and 2.8 million metric tons of flat rolled products - down 34.9 percent, all compared to January-February 2008. The above flat rolled production figure includes 700,000 metric tons of cold rolled - down 50 percent, and 2.1 million metric tons of hot rolled - down 27.6 percent, both compared with the same period last year.