Evraz’s crude steel output falls by 5.5% to 3.3Mt in first quarter of 2018

Russia: Evraz’s consolidated crude steel output fell by 5.5% year-on-year to 3.3Mt in the first quarter of 2018. The steel producer blamed the fall on lower pig iron production due to iron ore supply issues in relation to poor weather in January and February 2018. It also attributed the decline to technical issues with blast furnaces #1 and #3 at its Zsmk plant, a shutdown of the blast furnace #6 at Ntmk and the divestment of its Ukrainian Dmz subsidiary in March 2018. Total steel product sales dropped by 5.7% due to lower crude steel production. Sales of semi-finished products fell by 16.6%, primarily due to reduced pig iron and crude steel production. This was partly offset by a 5.7% increase in the output of finished products, mainly for the construction industry.