Metalloinvest ups iron ore output 1% in 2014
MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) - Metalloinvest raised iron ore production 1% in 2014 to 38.747 million tonnes, the company said.
Iron ore production fell 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in Q4 2014 to 9.686 million tonnes.
The company increased pellet production by 2.6% q-o-q to 5.7 million tonnes in Q4 2014. Annual output reached 22.7 million tonnes, up by 0.4%.
In Q4 2014, HBI/DRI production rose 13.1% q-o-q to 1.3 million tonnes. Annual output amounted to 5.3 million tonnes, down by 1.1%.
In Q4 2014, the company increased hot metal production by 6.1% q-o-q to 0.6 million tonnes. Hot metal output in 2014 reached 2.3 million tonnes, up 4.8%.
The company raised crude steel production by 7.1% q-o-q to 1.1 million tonnes in Q4 2014. Annual crude steel output amounted to 4.5 million tonnes, up 3.7%.
In Q4 2014, the share of iron ore product shipments to the domestic market remained at the level of approx. 60%. In 2014, the share of shipments to Russian customers remained unchanged at 59%.
The largest domestic customers were NLMK , Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) , Severstal and Evraz.
The share of iron ore products shipped to the European market amounted to 24% in Q4 2014, compared with 25% in Q3 2014. The share of shipments to Europe increased to 23% in 2014 compared to 20% in 2013, mainly due to a significant increase in supplies to U.S. Steel Kosice.
In Q4 2014, the share of iron ore products shipped to Asian countries increased to 11% from 5% in the previous quarter mainly as a result of larger spot sales to China. In 2014, the share of iron ore products shipped to Asia slightly decreased versus 2013 (to China - to 5% from 8%; and to other Asian countries - to 6% from 9%) due to the reallocation of shipments to European steelmakers and other markets.
The share of iron ore products shipped to the MENA region amounted to 3% in Q4 2014, compared with 5% in the previous quarter. In 2014, the region's share in total shipments increased to 4% from 3% due to an increase in supply to Erdemir (Turkey).
Metalloinvest output and sales in Q4, FY 2014 ('000 tonnes):
| Q4 | Q4/Q3, % | 2014 | 2014/2013, % | |
| Output | ||||
| Iron ore | 9 686 | -0,%% | 38 747 | 1% |
| Pellets | 5 655 | 2,6% | 22 650 | 0,4% |
| HBI/DRI | 1 325 | 13,1% | 5 275 | -1,1% |
| Pig iron | 627 | 6,1% | 2 291 | 4,8% |
| Crude steel | 1 147 | 7,1% | 4 505 | -3,7% |
| Sales | ||||
| Iron ore | 2 829 | -5,6% | 11 021 | -0,8% |
| Pellets | 3 502 | 1,8% | 13 891 | 1,1% |
| HBI/DRI | 554 | 23,4% | 2 299 | -5,7% |
| Pig iron | 479 | 0,2% | 1 767 | 25% |
| Steel products | 1 042 | 4% | 4 153 | 1,8% |
Metalloinvest includes miners Mikhailovsky GOK and Lebedinsky GOK, the Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant and Urals Steel. Its main beneficiary is Alisher Usmanov.