Russian steelmaker MMK Group has released its operational results for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2020.
Accordingly, in the third quarter this year, the company recorded a 22.2 percent increase in its crude steel output to 2.88 million mt due to business activity recovery and the launch of hot rolling mill 2500 in July after scheduled reconstruction completed in the second quarter, and a 13.9 percent rise in its pig iron output to 2.37 million mt driven by the recovery in steel demand and the completion of a major overhaul of blast furnace No. 2, both compared to the previous quarter. In the third quarter, MMK’s finished steel sales totaled around 2.74 million mt, up 23.3 percent from the previous quarter.
In the first nine months this year, the company’s crude steel output totaled 8.26 million mt, down by 12 percent, while its pig iron output totaled 6.82 million mt, falling by 7.9 percent, both compared to the same period of 2019. In the given period, MMK’s finished steel sales totaled 7.71 million mt, down by 9.7 percent year on year.
The company’s Turkey-based subsidiary MMK Metalurji’s total sales decreased by 7.1 percent year on year to 521,000 mt in the first nine months of the current year, mainly due to the spread of the pandemic in Turkey, while its polymer-coated steel sales rose by 20.7 percent year on year to 131,000 mt, reflecting the Turkish steel segment’s strategy to boost sales of high-margin products.
MMK expects pent-up demand from the construction industry along with government economic stimulus packages to bolster sales in the fourth quarter this year. Higher utilization of hot rolling mill 2500’s capacity in the next quarter will additionally support MMK Group sales. Domestic prices in the fourth quarter are expected to remain flat from the previous quarter, amid the stabilization of hot rolled coil prices in the Black Sea region.