The Russian steelmaker and iron ore producer Evraz Group (Evraz) has announced that in 2009 it produced 15.28 million mt of crude steel, registering a decline of 13.5 percent in year-on-year terms due to the drop in demand and prices for steel products.
Accordingly, in 2009 Evraz saw a 6.8 percent decrease in coke production, a 15 percent drop in pig iron production, and an 11.3 percent reduction in its rolled steel production, all compared to 2008. The respective figures in metric tons were 1.74 million, 11.256 million, and 14.3 million. During last year, Evraz's output of flat rolled products went down by 22 percent to 2.05 million mt, its construction products output decreased by 17.9 percent to 4.28 million mt, its railway products output dropped by 36.5 percent to 1.56 million mt, its tubular products output decreased by 20.3 percent to 673,000 mt, while its semi-finished products output increased by 22.4 percent to 5.25 million mt, all compared to 2008.
In addition, in 2009 Evraz's mining division saw a 56.2 percent increase in iron ore concentrate production to 5.65 million mt, a four percent rise in pellet production to 5.5 million mt, but a 42.7 percent drop in sinter production to 4.08 million mt, all compared to 2008. Furthermore, Evraz mined 10.3 million mt of coking coal in 2009, registering an increase of 13.6 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, during last year, Evraz recorded a 33 percent decrease year on year in its vanadium-added alloys and chemicals output to 10.29 million mt, but a 7.8 percent rise in its vanadium-added slag production to 11.87 million mt.
In 2009, Evraz's Russian crude steel output decreased by 13.8 percent to 11.28 million mt, its European crude steel production went down by 40 percent to 481,000 mt, its North American crude steel output dropped by three percent to 1.85 million mt, and its South African crude steel production decreased by 12.2 percent to 699,000 mt, all compared to 2008.
However, in Q4 2009 Evraz continued to see improvements in its crude steel production, reporting an increase of 0.3 percent quarter on quarter to 4.25 million mt. In addition, Evraz has also reported higher Q4 prices compared to Q3 for its key products in its sale markets, regardless of the year-on-year decrease they recorded.