Metalloinvest announces operational results for Q1 2018

Metalloinvest, a leading global iron ore and merchant HBI producer and supplier, and one of the regional producers of high-quality steel, today announces its operational results for the first quarter of 2018.

Management comments

Andrey Varichev, CEO of Management Company Metalloinvest, commented:

"In the first quarter of 2018, Metalloinvest continued the successful implementation of its strategy to increase volumes of value-added products, raising production of pellets, HBI, hot metal and steel. Our customers benefited from a quarter-on-quarter increase in our high-quality product output, with HBI shipments increasing by 10% and high value-added steel up by 14%."

Iron ore products

In Q1 2018, Metalloinvest produced 9.9 mn tonnes of iron ore , a decrease of 2.0% q-o-q, mainly due to the calendar factor
In Q1 2018, the Company increased pellet production by 2.7% q-o-q to 6.7 mn tonnes, mainly as a result of the completion of maintenance works in Q4 2017 and a change in the product mix
In Q1 2018, Metalloinvest's HBI/DRI output reached 2.0 mn tonnes. The q-o-q increase of 4.0% was mostly due to increased productivity resulting from the launch of HBI-3 Plant at LGOK in July 2017
In Q1 2018, the share of high value-added iron ore product shipments (pellets, HBI/DRI) amounted to 69%, compared with 65% in Q4 2017

Steel products

In Q1 2018, Metalloinvest increased hot metal output by 5.9% q-o-q to 0.7 mn tonnes, mainly due to the completion of maintenance works in Q4 2017 and growth in internal consumption of hot metal, to secure increased steel production
In Q1 2018, the Company increased crude steel production to 1.2 mn tonnes. The 6.0% q-o-q increase was largely a result of increased activity at Ural Steel's Continuous Casting Machine #1 to satisfy growing demand for cast billets
The share of high value-added (HVA ) steel product shipments increased to 46% in Q1 2018 from 42% in Q4 2017. This increase was driven by growing shipments across the Company's entire HVA steel product range