Evraz boosts exports to half of total sales
MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) - Evraz plc has boosted exports to 50% of steel product sales from 40%, the steel and mining giant's vice president, Alexei Ivanov, told reporters.
The volume of exports has risen 10% since December, he said.
"Exports have traditionally been high, at approximately 40%. Now, the ratio of exports to domestic market sales is roughly 50:50," Ivanov said.
Further changes in the ratio will depend on the market situation, he said.
Evraz also plans to boost rail exports. "We'll be trying to export up to 60,000 tonnes of rails this year," he said. The markets for these are Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Evraz is currently having its rails certified by Deutsche Bahn. "As soon as we get this done we'll start discussing contracts in earnest," he said.
Ivanov also said Evraz was not having any problems regarding metal prices with its key partners, such as Russian Railways (RZD) , with which the company has a long-term contract with a price formula. "We're not having any price conflicts with our clients," he said.