Metalloinvest boosts iron ore production 2.3% in Q2, pellets - 4%
MOSCOW. Aug 1 (Interfax) - Metalloinvest produced 10.1 million tonnes of iron ore in Q2 2018, a 2.3% quarter-on-quarter increase, the company said.
The increase was mainly driven by "improved productivity and more calendar working days," the metals holding said in a press release.
Output of pellets rose 4% to 7 million and HBI production was up 1.3% to 1.2 million tonnes.
Metalloinvest boosted shipments to foreign customers 7.4% to 6.5 million tonnes in Q2. Shipments of iron ore totaled 1.8 million tonnes compared to 1.9 million tonnes in Q1 and pellets - 3.6 million tonnes compared to 3.1 million tonnes in Q1.
Metalloinvest increased hot metal output by 2.9% in April-June to 737,000 tonnes. Production of crude steel rose 1.9% to 1.26 million tonnes largely a result of the increased operations at Ural Steel's Continuous Casting Machine No. 1 to meet growing demand for cast billets.
Metalloinvest iron ore products production and shipments, '000 tonnes:
| Production | Q2 2018 | Q1 2018 | Change |
| Iron ore | 10 124 | 9 893 | 2,3% |
| Pellets | 6 956 | 6 691 | 4% |
| HBI/DRI | 1 997 | 2 021 | -1,2% |
| Shipments | |||
| Iron ore | 1 807 | 1 880 | -3,9% |
| Pellets | 3 560 | 3 085 | 15,4% |
| HBI/DRI | 1 159 | 1 111 | -18,2 |
Metalloinvest steel pig iron and steel products production and shipments, '000 tonnes:
| Production | Q2 2018 | Q1 2018 | Change |
| Hot metal | 737 | 716 | 2,9% |
| Crude steel | 1 260 | 1 237 | 1,9% |
| Shipments | |||
| Pig iron | 542 | 531 | 2,1% |
| Steel products, incl. | 1 174 | 1 134 | 3,5% |
| - SEMIS | 581 | 555 | 4,7% |
| - SEMIS HVA | 81 | 75 | 8% |
| -SBQ HVA | 279 | 274 | 1,8% |
| -Plate | 70 | 59 | 18,6% |
| - Plate HVA | 164 | 171 | -4,1% |
The share of high value-added iron ore product shipments (pellets, HBI/DRI) rose to 72% in Q2 from 69% in the previous quarter.
The share of pig iron and steel products shipped to European declined to 17% from 20% in Q1 and the share of shipments to the Middle East and North Africa dropped two percentage points to 16%. The share of shipments to Russia rose three percentage points to 28% and to Asia - down to 1% from 6% in the previous quarter.