Ferrexpo produced 300,000 tons of pellets in October-December 2022

In October-December 2022, Ferrexpo company reduced the production of pellets by 64.2% compared to the previous quarter of 2022 – to 0.3 million tons. The press service of the company informed GMK Center about this.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, in October-December 2022, the production of pellets fell by 90.1%.

A sharp decrease in production in the fourth quarter of 2022 was caused by the forced shutdown of the company’s capacities in October due to interruptions and constant instability in the state power grid.

As Ferrexpo noted, the company now has sufficient energy capacity to restore the operation of one pelletizer line. This will allow the group, together with warehouse stocks, to meet the requirements of existing contracts with customers.

The company predicts that the production of pellets by the end of 2022 will amount to approximately 5.9-6 million tons.

“Despite production shutdowns, deliveries to customers continued at a rate of approximately 250 kilotonnes per month during the fourth quarter of 2022,” Ferrexpo said.

As GMK Center reported earlier, from October 11, 2022, Ferrexpo had to temporarily stop production due to massive damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as a result of Russian missile strikes. In November, the company reported on partial recovery of production activity after stabilization of energy supply.

In 2021, Ferrexpo kept the production of pellets at the level of 2020 – 11.2 million tons. The output of DR pellets with 67% iron content increased by 27% y/y – up to 431 thousand tons.

Ferrexpo is a Swiss-based mining company with iron ore assets in Ukraine. It produces and exports high-quality iron ore pellets for steel production. Its production assets include Poltava Mining and Yeristovo Mining (holding a 100% stake each).