The Russian steelmaker and iron ore producer Evraz Group (Evraz) has announced that in Q3 2010 its crude steel output went down by 8.7 percent to about 3.87 million mt, its pig iron production decreased by 2.7 percent to 2.94 million mt, while its rolled steel products output dropped by 9.3 percent to 3.47 million mt, all compared to Q3 2009.
Both Evraz's crude steel and pig iron outputs in Q3 were negatively affected by the scheduled modernization of a blast furnace and a converter shop at its Russian plants, as well as by the idling since July 2010 of steelmaking capacities at Evraz's Czech subsidiary Evraz Vitkovice Steel due to the ongoing pricing dispute with supplier of hot iron ArcelorMittal Ostrava.
Specifically, in Q3 2010, Evraz's Russian crude steel output decreased by 7.2 percent year on year to 2.9 million mt, leading to a decrease in outputs of semi-finished steel and railway products, while its Ukrainian crude steel production went down by 25.9 percent year on year to 178,000 mt, with its output of saleable pig iron increasing to 53,000 mt (1,000 mt in Q3 2009) because of low demand for export billets. Meanwhile, Evraz's South African crude steel production in Q3 2010 increased by 7.2 percent year on year to 213,000 mt, and its North American crude steel output increased by 17.2 percent year on year to 560,000 mt.
Evraz said that it has increased its Q3 2010 EBITDA guidance from $480-550 million, as announced during its H1 2010 results presentation, to $550-600 million, due to shorter-than-expected downtime in the third quarter and improvement in domestic pricing of construction products in September.
In Q4 2010, Evraz expects its production volumes to recover, as most of the scheduled modernization projects and safety equipment installation has been completed.