Metalloinvest, a leading global iron ore and hot briquetted iron (HBI) producer based in Russia, has announced its operational results for the first nine months of 2019.
Accordingly, in the given period, Metalloinvest's iron ore production increased by 0.2 percent year on year to 30.07 million mt. The company’s iron ore shipments in the January-September period of this year decreased by 1.9 percent year on year to 5.17 million mt. The growth was driven by the completion of maintenance works on water-slurry circuit systems at MGOK4 in the second quarter of 2019 and an increase in productivity due to the processing of higher quality ore.
Metalloinvest's pellet production and shipment volumes in the first nine months amounted to 21.23 million mt and 10.78 million mt, up 2.2 percent and 2.4 percent respectively, both year on year, as a result of the completion of major maintenance works at pellet plant No. 2 at LGOK5 and the reconstruction of pellet plant No. 3 at MGOK, and a change in the pellet product mix.
In the January-September period, Metalloinvest's crude steel production fell by 2.7 percent to 3.63 million mt a result of the development of FMF7 steel production technology and major maintenance works at Ural Steel in third quarter of 2019, while its pig iron output fell by seven percent to 2.08 million mt due to maintenance works at Ural Steel, both year on year.
Meanwhile, the share of iron ore product shipments to the domestic market amounted to 52 percent in the first nine months of 2019. The company increased the volume of export supplies during the January-September period by 44.6 percent year on year mainly due to the increase in supplies to Asia. Furthermore, the share of high value-added products comprised 73 percent of the total amount of iron ore shipments.