Mechel returns to pre-crisis output levels in 2010

Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and steel groups, has announced that in 2010 it managed not only to return to its pre-crisis output levels, but also to exceed them for some product groups.
 
Specifically, in 2010, Mechel's steel division was operating at full capacity, consistently increasing the volumes of production for high value-added products, and reaching record levels for hardware production. Due to new acquisitions, as of Romania-based steel plant Laminorul Braila, and the upgrading of its existing assets, in 2010 Mechel's steel production increased by 11 percent, its hardware output went up by 35 percent, and its rolled steel product output rose by 16 percent, all compared to 2009.
 
In Mechel's mining division, the overall coking coal production in 2010 exceeded the 2009 figure by 52 percent, while the output of other types of metallurgical coal rose by 176 percent year on year. "These results enabled us to benefit from the positive trends in the global coal markets and give us a good starting point for the year 2011, when we expect to add volumes from our existing operations as well as from Elga, where we have already stripped the coal seams and prepared coal for extraction," reads Mechel's statement.
 
Meanwhile, in 2010, Mechel's ferroalloys production volumes also exceeded the 2009 results in nickel and ferrosilicon production, by seven percent and five percent respectively.