Speaking at the 15th SteelOrbis "New Horizons in Steel Markets" annual conference being held virtually on December 1-3 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Burak Soydan, general manager of NLMK Turkey, said that, while in 2020 the Russian economy faced decreases in key indicators, the forecasts for next year are mainly positive: with improvements in economic growth, oil prices and demand and also government investments in infrastructure projects.
Mr. Soydan indicated that Russia produced 71.7 million mt of crude steel last year, with a capacity utilization rate of 80 percent, adding that additional capacities are not expected in Russia. On the other hand, he noted that apparent steel usage did not drop significantly, which is usually expected in economic downturns.
Regarding prices, the NLMK official stated that domestic flat steel prices in Russian rubles were marginally higher in mid-November, while prices in US dollars were almost flat during October-November. He went on to say that export prices have been recovering since July amid robust demand from Asia and the gradual resumption of global economic activity. He underlined that export slab prices surpassed pre-Covid levels in early September and are hovering at similar levels since then.
Commenting on how NLMK did during the pandemic, Soydan said that the company managed to secure steel production levels due to a strong presence in key export markets achieved by diverting sales to the Far East, the only functioning economy for the moment. He added that 30 percent of NLMK’s sales were diverted to China and some other markets where the economies were recovering.