Mechel posts production results for Jan-Sept

One of the leading Russian vertically-integrated mining and metal companies, Mechel, on Wednesday announced its production results for the January-September 2006 period. According to the company release, in the period in question Mechel increased pig iron production by 8 percent, raised finished steel products output by 2 percent ( including a 40 percent increase in flat rolled output, no changes in long products output and a one percent decrease in semi-finished output) and retained crude steel production at the previous year's level. The respective figures in metric tons were 2.7 million, 3.6 million (including 296,000 of flat rolled, 1.8 million of long products, and 1.4 million for semi-finished goods) and 2.7 million.