The Russian steelmaker Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced that in 2009 it increased its steel product shipments to the Middle East, its key delivery market, by 17.5 percent year on year to 1.66 million mt compared to 1.413 million mt in 2008. The share of the producer's total exports directed to this market in 2009 rose to 43 percent from 38 percent in 2008.
Meanwhile, MMK's deliveries to Asia and the Far East amounted to 35 percent of its total shipments of steel products to foreign markets, its deliveries to Europe accounted for 11 percent, while its shipments to Africa accounted for six percent of its total exports. The producer's shipments of steel products to North America in 2009 amounted to one percent of its total exports, while its shipments to Central and South America accounted for 3.6 percent. In 2009, MMK's total export shipments came to 3.86 million mt.
On the other hand, in 2009 MMK's steel product deliveries to the domestic market accounted for 56 percent of total deliveries. In its statement, the company said that it continues to consider the Russian domestic market as a priority and as strategically important.
"Overcoming the crisis, substantial growth is expected in Russia's economy in the domestic consumption of ferrous metals, which opens up good prospects for the domestic producers of steel products," reads MMK's statement.