Mechel reduces coal production 2% to 5.5 mln tonnes in Q1
MOSCOW. June 23 (Interfax) - Mechel produced 5.506 million tonnes of coal in Q1 2015, 2% less than in Q4 2014, the coal and steel group said in a statement.
Output in the quarter was down 1% compared with Q1 2014.
Sales of coking coal concentrate fell to 2.04 million tonnes in Q1 2015, down 14% quarter-on-quarter and 22% year-on-year.
"In the mining division, coking coal concentrate sales went down by 14% as compared to the previous quarter due to a reduction in export sales. A large volume of coking coal concentrate was redirected to the domestic market as domestic prices were more attractive," the company said in a press release.
"At the same time, PCI sales went up by 5% due to the increased demand in Asia Pacific, primarily in China. Anthracite sales in Q1 2015 went down by 6% due to a decrease in supplies to CIS customers," Mechel said.
"Steam coal sales went down by 18% quarter-on-quarter, which is due to a weaker European demand," the statement said.
"An increase in price and demand for iron ore concentrate in Asian markets in 1Q2015 stimulated the 15-percent increase in supplies to this region's customers," the press release said.
Coal production at the Elga coal complex in Q1 reached 842,000 tonnes. For comparison: in January-March 2014, only 51,000 tonnes were produced at Elga, in Q4 2014 - 481,000 tonnes were produced and for all of last year, 1.224 million tonnes were produced.
Mechel Group's highlights for Q1 2015 ('000 tonnes):
| Q1 2015 | Q1 2015/Q4 2014 | Q1 2015/Q1 2014 | |
| PRODUCTION: | |||
| Run-of-mine coal | 5 506 | -2% | -1% |
| Pig iron | 1 051 | 1% | 12% |
| Crude steel | 1 102 | 1% | 7% |
| SALES: | |||
| Coking coal concentrate | 2 040 | -14% | -22% |
| PCI | 653 | 5% | 11% |
| Anthracites | 544 | -6% | 13% |
| Steam coal | 1 476 | -18% | 8% |
| Iron ore concentrate | 707 | 15% | -27% |
| Coke | 767 | -16% | 1% |
| Ferrosilicon | 22 | -2% | 1% |
| Long products | 637 | -6% | -18% |
| Flat products | 117 | -1% | 4% |
| Billets | 81 | 2.2-fold growth | 2.4-fold growth |
| Hardware | 171 | -7% | -4% |
