Ukraine-headquartered mining and steel producing group Metinvest has announced its operational results for 2019. The company managed to keep its total steel products output unchanged year on year at 8.755 million mt. This was mainly owing to the positive slab sector, while the output of finished products weakened in the given year.
In 2019, Metivenst produced 3.160 million mt of semi-finished products, up four percent year on year. In particular, slab output increased by 37 percent to 1.9 million mt, while pig iron volumes decreased by 23 percent to 1.264 million mt, year on year. The key factor is the redirection of hot metal for steelmaking and downstream production following the commissioning of the new continuous casting machine at Ilyich SW in the third quarter. In the meantime, the output of finished steel by the group edged down by three percent year on year to 5.595 million mt, mostly amid unfavorable demand.
In the mining sector, Metinvest’s total iron ore concentrate output grew by six percent compared to 2018 to 29.028 million mt, mainly due to a greater output at Northern GOK amid higher ore production, ongoing renovation of mining and transportation equipment and efficient utilization, as well as improved equipment performance at beneficiation plants. Meanwhile, amid lower intra-group consumption, the output of commercial iron ore products surged by 20 percent year on year to 18.262 million mt. Commercial iron ore concentrate output amounted to 11.311 million mt in 2019, up 46 percent year on year. However, commercial pellet production dropped by seven percent year on year to 6.951 million mt due to a greater proportion of orders for higher-margin concentrate, SteelOrbis has learned.
Metinvest’s coal concentrate output in 2019 rose by 10 percent compared to the previous year to 2.961 million mt, amid higher productivity and improved mining and geological conditions at the Affinity mine.