In the third quarter of 2019, the management of the largest metallurgical enterprise in Russia, PJSC Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant, expects that demand for metal products in the domestic market will remain at a high level.
The company's forecast, published on Tuesday, July 16, states that amid the completion of the next stage of reconstruction of the 2500 hot rolling mill, the growth in demand will have a positive effect on the sales of MMK Group's commercial products.
"The maximum utilization of the company's high-margin units and the maintenance of the domestic market premium at a high level will compensate for the effect of the increase in the cost of iron ore raw materials in the first half of 2019, which will support the financial results of the MMK group in the third quarter of 2019," the official website of the group for the consolidated results for the second quarter of 2019.
The growth of pig iron smelting in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the level of the last quarter by 2.3 percent in MMK was explained by the completion of the planned overhaul of blast furnace No. 7 in mid-May and an increase in productivity. At the same time, the volume of steel production remained at the level of the previous quarter.
"The growth in the production of pig iron allowed to reduce the share of scrap metal in the charge," - noted in MMK.
The volume of shipments of commercial products in the second quarter of 2019 remained at the level of the previous quarter and amounted to 2 million 730 thousand tons.
“Stable shipment volumes are associated with continued high demand in the domestic market and continued scheduled repairs of rolling equipment during the quarter,” the company said.
