Zlatoust Metallurgical Works (ZMZ), a subsidiary of the Russian steel producer ESTAR Holding, has announced that in February this year it registered a 3.57 percent increase in its crude steel production to 20,807 mt, including 12,086 mt of steel produced by open hearth furnace - down 1.74 percent, and saw a 6.4 percent decrease in its rolled steel products output to 23,600 mt, both compared to January 2010.
"We finished the last winter month [February] exceeding our crude steel production plan by 478 mt. The open hearth shop fell short of its production plan for the month by 143 mt, as in the beginning of the month it suffered from a lack of pig iron," reads the company's statement.
Meanwhile, in February 2010, ZMZ's deliveries of steel products went down by about 8.8 percent month on month to 21,527 mt, including 355 mt of calibrated steel products and 776 mt of steel products with special surface finish.
"It should be noted that in February, the situation as regards receipt of orders improved, but difficulties appeared in terms of ensuring the shops with raw materials: ferroalloys, alloy wastes and pig iron. Due to this, in March the plant faces a serious problem: already at the beginning of the month it has to smelt 700 mt of stainless steel and produce 2,500 mt of steel products with special surface finish. In general, the assortment is getting more complicated, and thus there is more and more work," said ZMZ in its statement.