Metinvest ramped-up crude steel production in Q3 FY2020 to 2.188mn mt, up by 22pc from Q2 amid a recovery in demand and increased production at Azovstal and Ilyich Steel plants. The company’s crude production rose by 4pc to 6.151mn mt in the first nine months of 2020 (Jan-Sep) driven by higher output at Ilyich Steel.
In Q3, hot metal production increased by 17pc from Q2 with the restart of two blast furnaces at Mariupol in May. Hot metal output rose by 186,000mt at Azovstal and 143,000mt at Ilyich Steel.
Hot metal production rose by 5pc to 6.371mn mt in the Jan-Sep period from the prior year, partly due to a 226,000mt rise in output at Azovstal. The plant reignited its No. 3 blast furnace after a major maintenance and upgrade in June 2019. Also, the Ilyich plant’s production rose by 104,000mt due mainly to a low-base in the year period because of the shutdown of No. 5 blast furnace for maintenance in May-July 2019.
| Metinvest’s production in Q3 FY2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit: mt | 3Q 2020 | 2Q 2020 | Change QoQ | 9M 2020 | 9M 2019 | Change | |
| Hot metal | 23,05,000 | 19,76,000 | 17% | 63,71,000 | 60,41,000 | 5% | |
| Crude steel | 21,88,000 | 17,92,000 | 22% | 61,51,000 | 59,05,000 | 4% | |
| Semi-finished | 9,80,000 | 8,80,000 | 11% | 24,97,000 | 22,47,000 | 11% | |
| Pig iron | 3,45,000 | 3,97,000 | -13% | 8,50,000 | 8,47,000 | 0% | |
| Slabs | 6,35,000 | 4,83,000 | 31% | 16,47,000 | 14,00,000 | 18% | |
| Finished | 14,88,000 | 12,94,000 | 15% | 43,50,000 | 44,55,000 | -2% | |
| Flats | 11,71,000 | 11,05,000 | 6% | 35,62,000 | 37,24,000 | -4% | |
| Longs | 2,42,000 | 1,55,000 | 56% | 6,27,000 | 5,77,000 | 9% | |
| Rails | 34,000 | 6,000 | 467% | 50,000 | 28,000 | 79% | |
| Tubular | 41,000 | 28,000 | 46% | 1,11,000 | 1,26,000 | -12% |
Production of merchant semi-finished products in Q3 increased by 11pc from Q2 due to a 152,000mt rise in slab production. But the output of Pig iron fell by 52,000mt as hot metal was consumed for production at Ilyich Steel.
In Jan-Sep period, production of merchant semis products rose by 11pc to 2.497mn mt from a year ago due to a 247,000mt rise in slab production at Mariupol post the commissioning of the new CC line at Ilyich Steel.
In Q3, finished products output grew by 15pc to 1.488mn mt supported by strong orderbook. Flats output increased due to strong demand for hot-rolled plates and galvanised coils. In the nine months period, flats output fell to 3.562mn mt, due to lesser production of hot-rolled plates, which was partly offset by higher HRC output at Ilyich Steel following the upgrade of hot strip mill.