Kemerovo Koks reduces coke production 2% in 2013, pig iron down 1%
KEMEROVO. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Coke and merchant pig iron producer Koks Group from Kemerovo produced 2.552 million tonnes of coke in 2013, 2% less than in 2012, the company said in a press release.
Pig iron production edged down 1% to 2.098 million tonnes. The decline was the result of a maintenance shutdown of the No.2 blast furnace in May-June. The company increased the share of premium pig iron grades in total output to 15% last year from about 8% in 2012.
Koks raised coal extraction 4% to 1.661 million tonnes, thanks to the start of production at the Butovsky mine in May and due to the stable operation of the Uchastok Koksoviy open pit.
Coal concentrate production rose 11% to 2.403 million tonnes "due to the growth in volume of third-parties' coal processing," the press release says.
Iron ore extraction edged up 0.6% to 4.828 million tonnes from 4.8 million tonnes in 2012. Output of iron ore concentrate declined 2% to 2.201 million tonnes.
The company expects market conditions to improve in 2014 compared with the second half of 2013, Vyacheslav Morozov, vice president and chief commercial officer of Management Company Industrial Metallurgical Holding LLC, Koks Group's management company.
"In this regard we are going to retain full utilization of our pig iron facilities. Coke production capacity utilization level will be the same as in 2013," Morozov is quoted in the press release as saying.
Koks Group, a leading producer of merchant coke in Russia and major exporter of merchant pig iron, has four operating divisions with units in various regions of Russia: coal, coke, iron ore and pig iron, and powder metallurgy. The group also includes LLC Intertnik, a factory in Kemerovo Region that produces inert dust.