Metinvest cut production of metal products by 1% in Q2

Production of semi-finished products grew by 38%

In Q2 2020, the Metinvest Group cut production of metal products by 1% to 2.2 million tons against Q1, according to a report posted on the Company’s website.

Production of semi-finished products in April–June increased by 38% to 880 thousand tons against January–March. Specifically, pig iron production in three months increased by 3.7 times to 397 thousand tons, whereas production of slabs decreased by 9% to 483 thousand tons.

“Metinvest’s output of merchant semi-finished products surged … amid an increase in merchant pig iron production … caused primarily by higher demand. Meanwhile, merchant slab output decreased … due to lower production at both Mariupol plants,” the report says.

In Q2, Metinvest reduced production of finished products by 17% to 1.3 million tons against the previous quarter. Over this period, the Company managed to increase HRC production by 13% to 386 thousand tons, but decreased production of all other product types.

Production of metal products by Metinvest

	Q2 2020 — Q1 2020, thsd tons	∆ %	H1 2020 — H1 2019, thsd tons	∆ %
Semi-finished products	880	38%	1517	5%
Pig iron	397	268%	505	-9%
Slab	483	-9%	1012	15%
Finished products	1294	-17%	2824	-7%
Flat products	1105	-14%	2353	-8%
Hot-rolled sheet	589	-28%	1408	-22%
Hot-rolled coil	386	13%	728	7%
Cold-rolled coil	39	5%	75	-18%
Galvanized cold-rolled coil	84	2%	166	-17%
Other flat products	8	14%	14	-59%
Long products	155	-32%	385	-2%
Rail products	6	-4%	16	14%
Pipe products	28	-33%	70	-11%
Total	2174	-1%	4341	-3%

Source: metinvestholding.com

In H1, Metinvest cut production of metal products by 3% to 4.3 million tons against H1 2019. Production of semi-finished products in H1 increased by 5% to 1.5 million tons, whereas production of finished products fell by 7% to 2.8 million tons.

Slab production grew by 15% on the back of demand. At the same time, pig iron production decreased by 9% mainly due to redirection of pig iron for making steel and downstream products at Ilyich Iron, according to the report.

In H1, the Company managed to increase production of hot-rolled coil and rail products by 70% and 14% to 728 thousand tons and 16 thousand tons respectively. A decline is recorded in production of other types of finished products.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2019, Metinvest boosted steel production by 3% to 7.6 million tons against the previous year. Production of pig iron dropped by 3% to 7.9 million tons.