Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works’ (MMK) pig iron production decreased by 1.7pc to 2.35mn mt in Q1 2020 because of scheduled maintenance work at its rolling facilities.
The company produced 2.39mn mt of pig iron in Q1 2019, which declined by 9.6pc from the previous quarter when it produced 2.6mn mt of the material.
The Russian firm produced 3mn mt of steel during the quarter, down by 2.7pc from 3.1mn mt produced in the same 2019 period, and by 1.6pc compared to the previous quarter.
MMK noted that its low steel output was a result of reduced demand, scheduled maintenance work, and reconstruction of its Hot Rolled Mill 2500, which slowed output.
The steelmaker’s total finished product sales declined by 1.3pc in the first quarter to 2.74mn mt compared with 2.78mn mt in Q1 2019, and were down by 1.3pc from the previous quarter due to the economic impact of COVID-19.
Among its finished products, sales of long products increased by 8.3pc in Q1 2020 to 357,000mt from 329,000mt in the same quarter last year. Long products sales also increased by 14.4pc from the last quarter. However, sales of flat-rolled products declined by 2.7pc to 1.08mn mt in the first quarter from 1.11mn mt during the same period a year ago. Flat rolled product sales also decreased by 7.9pc from the previous quarter.
The company’s HVA product sales also declined by 2.5pc to 1.3mn mt during the quarter from Q1 2019. However, sales increased by 1pc from the previous quarter due to higher demand for the material in Q1.
The company produced 658,000mt of iron ore in Q1 2020, down by 8.2pc from 716,000mt in the same quarter of 2019 and by 3pc from Q4 2019.