Russian steelmaker Severstal expects steel and commodity prices to soften this year after Russia implements a 15pc export duty on steel starting Aug 1 until the end of this year. However, the firm is confident of attaining leading margins and strong returns this year, despite the potential softening, it said in a statement.
Severstal’s hot metal production increased by 12pc to 5.3mn mt in the first half of the year compared to 4.7mn mt in the same period in 2020. In Q2 2021, the hot metal output dropped by 2pc to 2.62mn mt compared to 2.67mn mt in Q1 2021.
The company’s crude steel production rose by 1pc to 5.7mn mt in H1 2021 from 5.6mn mt in the same period last year but declined by 6pc to 2.7mn mt in Q2 2021 from 2.9mn mt in the previous quarter.
Steel sales including iron ore products, high value-added (HVA) products, and coal in the first half rose by 4pc to 5.3mn mt against 5.1mn mt in H1 2020. The sales of steel products in the second quarter increased by 2pc to 2.67mn mt compared to 2.63mn mt in Q1 2021.
The steelmaker’s total revenue from January-June rose by 56.8pc to $5.1bn from $3.2bn in H1 2020. Its revenue in Q2 2021 climbed by 32.8pc to $2.9bn from $2.2bn in Q1 2021.
Its EBITDA in H1 2021 jumped by 166pc to $2.8bn from $1bn in H1 2020 and increased by 41.7pc to $1.6bn from $1.1bn in Q1 2021.