19 Nov 2019 14:42

Mechel boosted coal production 15% in Q3, coking-coal concentrate sales fell 10%

MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) - Mechel boosted its coal production 15% quarter-on-quarter in Q3, to 5.3 million tonnes, the company said.

Stripping increased 17%.

Sales of coking-coal concentrate fell 10%, to 1.72 million tonnes, due to scheduled repairs at the Neryungrinskaya enrichment complex and a temporary decrease in sales in South Korea.

Sales of thermal coal increased 4%, to 1.36 million tonnes; PCI coal sales grew 37%, to 390,000; and anthracite sales rose 51%, to 206,000.

Coal production at Elginskoye field remain flat quarter-on-quarter, at 1.2 million tonnes; in 9M, it fell 17%, to 3.2 million.

Coal production fell 7% year-on-year, to 13.43 million tonnes.

CEO Oleg Korzhov was quoted as saying, "As for prices for our key product - coking coal concentrate - as well as other metallurgical coals, starting in 3Q2019 our key markets were highly volatile and demonstrated a major slump in prices, down 20% on average and occasionally dropping by 30% compared to the beginning of the quarter. However, in our opinion - which coincides with consensus forecasts of leading international investment banks - demand and price indicators in the next few years will remain fairly stable due to customers in Asia Pacific."

Pig iron production fell 8%, to 794,000 tonnes, and steel output decreased 5%, to 888,000, due to repairs to the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant's blast furnace No. 4.

Operational results ('000 tonnes unless otherwise noted):

9M 2019 9M 2018 % Q3 2019 Q2 2019 %
Run-of-mine coal 13 426 14 472 -7 5 290 4 616 +15
Pig iron 2 530 2 817 -10 794 867 -8
Steel 2 750 2 976 -8 888 932 -5
Power generation ('000 kWh) 2 496 108 2 368 074 +5 740 415 857 970 -14
Heat generation (Gcal) 3 673 344 3 942 086 -7 677 343 975 372 -31

Sales of finished products:

9M 2019 9M 2018 % Q3 2019 Q2 2019 %
Coking coal concentrate 5 333 5 401 -1 1 720 1 916 -10
Including coking coal concentrate supplied to third parties 3 309 3 268 +1 1 068 1 218 -12
PCI 935 992 -6 390 284 +37
PCI supplied to third parties 935 992 -6 390 284 +37
Anthracites 501 878 -43 206 136 +51
Including anthracites supplied to third parties 371 724 -49 137 104 +32
Thermal coal 4 007 4 319 -7 1 364 1 311 +4
Including thermal coal supplied to third parties 3 541 3 718 -5 1 203 1 151 +5
Iron ore concentrate 1 922 1 398 +37 722 588 +23
Including iron ore concentrate supplied to third parties 181 42 +329 14 18 -22
Coke 1 913 1 831 +5 649 613 +6
Including coke supplied to third parties 697 502 +39 281 185 +52
Ferrosilocon 52 55 -6 16 19 -19
Including ferrosilicon supplied to third parties 36 32 +13 13 14 -7
Long rolls 1 895 2 110 -10 631 657 -4
Flat rolls 334 390 -14 107 112 -5
Hardware 438 478 -8 148 148 0
Forgings 32 32 -2 11 10 +11
Stampings 84 110 -23 25 31 -19