Evraz Russian first quarter steel production increases

Russian miner Evraz reported a rise in steel production and coking coal concentrate in the first quarter of 2017 from its North America and Russia sites.

Consolidated crude steel production increased 8.7%, compared to the last quarter of 2016, mainly due to higher production at the company’s North America and Russian steel mills.

Russian steel production was up quarter-on-quarter due to capital repairs at a blast furnace.

The FTSE 250 company said that the growth in steel product output at the Russian steel mills reflected an increase in volumes of semi-finished products, while higher volumes of semi-finished products were re-rolled at its sites in North America and Italy.

The increase in production of crude steel and steel products in North America came from higher demand in the region’s market, as well as the completion of planned outages at the Regina and Pueblo in sites in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Consolidated raw coking coal output fell 3.5% after scheduled longwall repositioning at the Raspadskaya coal mine in Russia, which was partially offset by an increase in raw coking coal output at the Yuzhkuzbassugol mines following planned longwall repositioning and at Mezhegeyugol after the repositioning of mining equipment.

Output of coking coal concentrate rose 6% quarter-on-quarter, due to higher volumes of raw coking coal mined at Mezhegeyugol, which is now processed partly at Yuzhkuzbassugol's coal washing plants.