Ferrexpo doubled pellet production in Q1

Ferrexpo, an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine that is listed on the London Stock Exchange, increased its production of iron ore pellets by 2.9 times in January-March 2024 compared to the previous quarter and doubled its production of iron ore pellets to 1.814 million tons compared to the first quarter of 2023. This is stated in Ferrexpo’s production report.

During the first quarter, the company produced 1.73 million tons of premium pellets from its own concentrate (65% iron content), up 3 times q/q and 92% compared to January-March 2023. Another 82.5 kt of pellets (65% iron content) were produced from third-party concentrate, up 65% q/q. At the same time, no such products were produced in the first quarter of 2023.

The production of iron ore concentrate in Q1 2024 amounted to 240.52 thousand tons, up 4.8 times q/q and 4.5 times y/y. The total production of iron ore products reached 2.05 million tons, up three times quarter-on-quarter and 2.1 times year-on-year.

«Our enterprises achieved significant results in the first quarter. This is our best quarterly performance since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is a tribute to the significant contribution of our workforce that has worked tirelessly since February 2022. We were once again able to export from Ukrainian ports, allowing us to export larger volumes to Europe and resume sales to MENA and Asian customers,» commented Lucio Genovese, Ferrexpo Executive Chair.

At the same time, he says, the company is facing staff shortages. In particular, the number of mobilized workers is increasing. The figure reaches 669 employees, which is the highest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The company provides support for returning soldiers, including physical and psychological rehabilitation, as well as retraining if a person cannot return to their previous job due to health problems.

«The challenges of the war are constantly changing our work environment and we must continuously adapt to shorter and tighter time scales, which requires a flexible workforce. To ensure our continued resilience we have placed a very strong focus on
training where we have multiple initiatives in place at the Ferrexpo Technical Expertise Centre to upskill, cross-skill and re-skill
employees, including fast tracking vocational qualifications,» he added.

«Ferrexpo is increasing production despite the military challenges. This is the best evidence of the company’s adaptability and commitment to supporting Ukraine’s economy in these difficult times. The growth in production and, consequently, exports of the company’s products means an increase in foreign currency earnings for the country and higher tax payments to the budgets of all levels,» said Andriy Glushchenko, GMK Center analyst.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Ferrexpo reduced pellet production by 36% year-on-year – to 3.845 million tons. The total production of iron ore products amounted to 4.15 million tons.

Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine that is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It produces and exports high-quality iron ore pellets for steel production. Its production assets are Poltava and Yeristovo Minings (100% owned each). The company is also developing Belanovo Mining.