Russian steelmaker Severstal’s Q2 2015 results reveal that the company’s hot metal production decreased 1% to 2.29Mt and that crude steel production was down 4% to 2.85Mt.
Severstal claims that the figures reflect the impact of scheduled maintenance on the company’s BOF number three and continuous casters two and four and also suggests lower consumption of scrap metal in the steelmaking process.
Consolidated sales of steel products increased 4% due to a seasonal increase in demand, despite weaker domestic steel consumption and Severstal’s proximity to export markets allowed the company flexibility to allocate additional volumes for export, it is claimed.
The share of high value-added products in Severstal’s product portfolio increased by one percentage point to 47% due to a 13% quarter-on-quarter increase in downstream product sales and a reduction in long products sales quarter-on-quarter. These have partially offset a 10% quarter-on-quarter increase in hot-rolled coil sales.
Severstal’s coking coal concentrate sales have increased by 15% despite a Q2 decrease in ROM-coal output volumes at Vorkutaugol ‘on the back of scheduled long-walls repositioning activity in June. “The former is largely a low-base effect with washing plant operations being negatively impacted by severe weather conditions in Q1,” claims the company.
The appreciation of the ruble has meant that Severstal’s USD-nominated selling prices for steel products have improved quarter-on-quarter. Domestic prices have reached ‘an unusual premium’ versus export prices and Severstal expects a gradual normalisation of this premium later in the year.