Kazakh steel output down in Jan-Oct

According to the data released by the Republic of Kazakhstan's Agency of Statistics, during the January-October 2006 period the country registered a 17.9 percent increase in iron ore production, a 6.5 percent decrease in crude steel production, a one percent decrease in production of flat rolled and a 5.4 percent rise in ferroalloys production year on year. The respective figures in metric tons were 18.8 million, 3.5 million, 2.5 million and 13.4 million. In October 2006, Kazakhstan saw a 14.3 increase in production of iron ore to 1.8 million metric tons, a 20.2 percent decrease in crude steel output to 331,977 metric tons, a 39.3 percent decrease in flat rolled production to 202,865 metric tons and a 3.2 percent rise in ferroalloys production to 136,013 metric tons, as compared to the corresponding period of 2005.