The Ukrainian mining and steel producing group Metinvest has announced that in the third quarter of 2012 its crude steel production decreased by 18 percent to 2.832 million mt compared to the previous quarter of this year. In the first nine months of the current year, Metinvest produced 9.579 million mt of crude steel, down 13 percent year on year due to production cutbacks at Azovstal and Ilyich.
In addition, in the third quarter Metinvest produced 1.925million mt of rolled steel products, down 25 percent quarter on quarter, including 1.205 million mt of flat products and 631,000 mt of long products. In the January-September period, the company's rolled steel product output amounted to 6.622 million mt, decreasing by seven percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
In the third quarter, the coking coal production of Metinvest decreased by 14 percent quarter on quarter to 2.701 million mt, while the company produced 8.948 million mt of iron ore concentrate, decreasing one percent compared to the previous quarter. In the first nine months of 2012, the company's coking coal production and iron ore concentrate output reached 8.816 million mt and 27.165 million mt, up five percent and two percent respectively, both year on year.