Metinvest slashes steel, coke output 69.7% in 2022

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Metinvest reduced crude steel output 69.7% in 2022 to 9.18 million tonnes, Ukrainian media quoted the holding's parent company Metinvest B.V. as saying in a press release.

Pig iron or hot metal production fell 71.4% to 2.743 million tonnes and coke fell 64.3% to 1.653 million tonnes, including merchant coke 49% to 811,000 tonnes.

Metinvest decided to halt the manufacturing activities of its assets in Mariupol, Avdeyevka and Zaporozhye, including Azovstal, Ilyich Steel, Avdeyevka Coke and Zaporozhye Coke, after the military operation began on February 24 last year. The Group's plants in Zaporozhye resumed their production operations later. The group's plants in Ukraine, apart from those in Mariupol and Avdeyevka, continue to operate at different capacity utilization levels subject to security, electricity, logistics and economic factors.

Output of merchant semi-finished products decreased by 70% to 1.022 million tonnes due to a significant decrease in the production of liquid pig iron. This was partially offset by the consolidation of merchant billet production at Kametstal's facilities.

Output of finished products for the group decreased by 62% to 2.777 million tonnes. Output of flat products fell by 4.247 million tonnes to 1.731 million tonnes due to the shutdown of Mariupol plants, as well as the lack of stable supplies of slabs for Italian rolling mills in the first half of 2022. Output of long products decreased by 71,000 tonnes to 1.018 million tonnes, due to the stoppage of production at Azovstal from the end of February 2022 and a decrease in production at Promet Steel due to irregular intragroup supplies of billets.

This was partially offset by the consolidation of production at Kametstal's facilities.

Total iron ore concentrate production fell 66% to 10.712 million tons, commercial iron ore output decreased % to 7.903 million tonnes, including merchant concentrate 60% to 4.718 million tonnes, and commercial pellets 45% to 3.185 million tonnes.

The group's output of total iron ore concentrate increased by 108,000 tonnes quarter-on-quarter to 1.008 million tonnes. To ensure the fulfilment of its order book amid unstable power supply, the Group resumed production at Ingulets GOK and Northern GOK at the end of the year.

Metinvest's output of merchant iron ore products decreased by 3% to 825,000 tonnes in Q4, which was mainly the result of increased intragroup consumption. Output of merchant pellets decreased by 41% to 489,000 tonnes because of unstable power supply. This was partly compensated by a resumption in concentrate production for sale.

The Group's output of coking coal concentrate decreased by 11% to 4.959 million tonnes in 2022, mainly because of a lack of skilled personnel at its coal assets and adverse geological conditions at the mines of United Coal in the United States. Output was practically level QoQ at 1.273 million tonnes in Q4.

Metinvest increased steel production 15% in 2021 compared with 2022 to 9.533 million tonnes and hot metal 15% also, to 9.709 million tonnes, but reduced total production of coke 5% to 4.551 million tonnes. Total production of iron ore concentrate rose 3% to 31.341 million tonnes, pellets 18% to 5.811 million tonnes and coking coal concentrate 92% to 5.542 million tonnes.

Metinvest is an international, vertically integrated steel and mining group with iron ore reserves, coal mines and steelmaking assets in Europe and the United States.

Metinvest's main shareholders are Rinat Akhmetov's SCM group with a 71.24% stake, and Smart Holding with 23.76%.