Russian steel giant Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (
MMK) has announced that its
Turkey-based subsidiary
MMK Metalurji registered a 40 percent quarter-on-quarter drop in its
crude steel production in the third quarter of this year, with the output declining to 170,000 mt, while its
crude steel output in the first nine months of the current year amounted to 752,000 mt.
In the third quarter of this year, the cold rolled flat product output of
MMK Metalurji totaled 49,000 mt, declining by 61 percent from the previous quarter, while its
galvanized steel
production amounted to 60,000 mt, down 26 percent quarter on quarter, due to an increase in the
production of higher margin color-coated steel. The steelmaker's color coated steel
production amounted to 101,000 mt, up by 28 percent quarter on quarter, as a result of the seasonal resurgence of the construction industry as well as the implementation of a program to bring the Turkish asset to a profitable level through the
production of high value-added products.
In January-September,
MMK Metalurji produced 217,000 mt of
galvanized steel, up 89 percent compared to the same period of 2011, while the company's color coated steel
production increased by 2.9 times year on year to 238,000 mt.
MMK has said that its finished product sales from its operations in
Turkey in the third quarter amounted to 211,000 mt, which is down 26 percent from the second quarter. The decrease largely stemmed from the lower output of commercial hot rolled products, the
production of which is not economically sustainable in current market conditions.