Russian steelmaker MMK Group has released its operational results for the first quarter of 2020.
Accordingly, in the first quarter of this year, the company recorded a 1.6 percent decrease in its crude steel output to 3.02 million mt due to maintenance work at converter facilities and scheduled reconstruction of hot rolling mill 2500, and a 9.6 percent fall in its pig iron output to 2.35 million mt amid the major maintenance at its blast furnace No. 2 in February, both compared to the previous quarter. In the first quarter, MMK’s finished steel sales totaled around 2.74 million mt, down 1.3 percent from the previous quarter.
MMK said that the unfavorable global market conditions and the quarantine measures in Russia create uncertainty for metal products demand from key consuming industries and so it expects its sales volumes to decrease in the second quarter of the year. MMK said that it has been conducting maintenance work leading to a planned decline in production volumes during the peak period of the coronavirus and weaker business activity.