The Russian steelmaker MMK Group has released its operational results for the first quarter of 2019.
Accordingly, in the first quarter this year, the company recorded a 0.2 percent decline in its crude steel output to 3.10 million mt and a 6.3 percent decline in its pig iron output to 2.4 million mt, due to the beginning of the scheduled overhaul of the blast furnace No. 7, both compared to the previous quarter. In the first quarter, MMK’s finished steel production totaled 2.73 million mt, down 2.9 percent from the previous quarter.
The company’s domestic shipments totaled 2.44 million mt in the first quarter this year, up 11.7 percent quarter on quarter, while the company’s exports, on the other hand, totaled 290,000 mt in the given quarter, down 53.6 percent compared to the last quarter of 2018.
At the moment, the company sees a consistently high demand for steel products in the domestic market, which should have a positive impact on the sales volumes of MMK Group's commercial products. MMK said that recovery of steel prices from minimum levels at the beginning of the year and the maximum capacity utilization of its high-margin production units should support the company’s financial results in the second quarter of the current year.