Russian steelmaker EVRAZ plans to increase its output of pig iron and pellets as well as sinter volumes in Q1 2020.
The company indicated that its pig iron production will increase slightly following the recent completion of capital repairs of blast furnace no. 5 (BF#5), at its NTMK facility. Pellet production volumes will rise at its KGOK plant after a period of reduced market demand in November and December, while sinter production volumes are expected to increase as a result of the completion of capital repairs in October 2019.
In 2019, EVRAZ increased its crude steel production by 6.1pc to 13,814kt (13.81mn mt) compared to the previous year due to higher production volumes of pig iron at the EVRAZ ZSMK facility after BF#1 was repaired faster in 2019 than BF#3 was in 2018. Around 86.5pc or 11,953kt of EVRAZ’s total production was utilized towards domestic consumption in Russia, while 1,861kt or 13.5pc of its steel was sent to North America.
The steelmaker’s sales volumes were up 10.4pc compared with 2018 at 13,502kt—including Q4 preliminary data. In 2019, sales volumes of finished products were up by 4.9pc compared to the previous year mainly due to higher sales volumes of construction and railway products.
However, the company indicated that the average price of Construction products declined 8.4pc in 2019 compared to the prior year while the average price for railway products increased 20pc in the same period.
Semi-finished products sales increased significantly by 22.8pc to 5,844kt in 2019 compared to last year primarily due to higher exports from Russia amid greater production volumes and a sharp increase of slab sales in North America. The average price for semi-finished goods declined 20pc to $361/mt ex-works.
The company’s raw coking coal production grew by 8.1pc to 26,140kt in 2019 due to improvement-driven higher production volumes at the Osinnikovskaya, Erunakovskaya, and Uskovskaya mines. Sales of coking coal products were flat at 11,053kt in 2019 compared to the previous year with the average price also remaining unchanged at $217/mt.
Iron ore product sales to outside customers fell by 42.5pc in 2019 compared to the prior year as a result of higher consumption of pellets by EVRAZ NTMK and amid higher pig iron production at EVRAZ ZAMK.
Sales volumes of vanadium (FeV) final products increased by 4.3pc to 12,883kt in 2019 compared to the previous year. During the same period, sales volumes of FeV slag decreased by 3.7pc to 6,451kt compared to the previous year. Sales of vanadium final products decreased by 2pc in Q4 compared to Q3 due to lower FeV demand mainly from North American steel producers amid reduced utilization rates.