Severstal North America reported Thursday that steel production for its North American divisions fell in Q1 2011. Hot metal output totaled 430,730 metric tons (mt) and crude steel production amounted to 914,819 mt in Q1, down 11 percent and 2 percent, respectively from Q4 2010. Compared to Q1 2010 however, hot metal output was down 4 percent, while crude steel production remained unchanged.
As for North American sales volumes, sales of hot rolled strip and plate were 418,544 mt, down 4 percent from Q4 2010, and down 10 percent from Q1 2010. Sales of cold rolled sheet were 146,234 mt, up 14 percent over the previous quarter but down 32 percent year-over-year. Sales of galvanized and metallic coated sheet surged 29 percent from Q4 2010 to 318,234 mt, but were still 7 percent lower than Q1 2010 total sales.
Despite production and sales volume declines in Q1, sales prices of rolled products jumped 15 percent from the previous quarter and 19 percent from the comparable quarter last year to $852/mt in Q1 2011.