The Russian steel mill Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced that in 2008 it increased its deliveries of steel products to the Russian domestic market to 65 percent of its total sales.
In 1999 MMK's shipments to the domestic market amounted to 36 percent of its steel product output, while its exports totaled 64 percent. In 2005 the producer's domestic shipments exceeded its exports for the first time, while in 2008 7.2 million mt (65 percent) of MMK's 11 million mt of deliveries were directed to the domestic market. In 2008 the share of the domestic market in MMK's total sales increased by six percent year on year. Meanwhile, MMK's share in the Russian domestic market in 2008 rose to 17 percent from 16 percent in 2007.
In 2008 the main consumers of MMK's steel products in the Russian domestic market were pipe producers with 26 percent of MMK's total sales, machine building companies with 24 percent, hardware companies with 13 percent, and construction companies with nine percent. Regional distributors' share in MMK's sales amounts to 27 percent, of which 60 percent is directed to the Ural and Volga regions, and 13 percent to Russia's Central region.
In addition, in 2008 MMK increased it deliveries to Belarus and the CIS countries by 11 percent and two percent respectively, both compared to 2007.