Metinvest B.V., the parent company of a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies (jointly referred to as “Metinvest”), announces its operational results for the fourth quarter and the 12 months of 2016.
In Q4 2016 Metinvest’s overall hot metal output decreased by 5% QoQ, 2,211 thousand tons, as production dropped at Azovstal, Ilyich Steel and Yenakievo Iron and Steel Works. Ilyich Steel reduced hot metal output by 74 thousand tons amid lower steel production. This was due to scheduled maintenance repairs of basic oxygen furnaces, as well as delays in supplies of iron ore and coke products stemming from ongoing work to increase the throughput capacity of the Kamysh-Zarya railway station. Yenakievo Steel’s output decreased by 31 thousand tons due to the shutdown of blast furnace No. 5 for a major, scheduled 18-day overhaul in October-November 2016. Output at Azovstal fell by 16 thousand tons.
In Q4 2016 the group’s crude steel production decreased by 4% QoQ, to 2,058 thousand tons. This was mainly due to Ilyich Steel’s steel output falling by 70 thousand tons as a result of a scheduled major overhaul of basic oxygen furnace No. 2 and planned maintenance work on basic oxygen furnaces Nos. 1 and 3. Crude steel production decreased by 17 thousand tons at Yenakievo Steel, due to lower hot metal output, and dropped slightly at Azovstal.
In 2016 hot metal output increased by 10% YoY, to 8,821 thousand tons, driven by a partial rebound in production at the group’s steel mills, following a decline in the first half of 2015, as the conflict in Eastern Ukraine continued from the second half of 2014. In particular, due to the conflict, Yenakievo Steel was shut down completely from February 7 to March 16, 2015 and raw material supplies to Azovstal and Ilyich Steel were constrained. During the reporting period, hot metal output rose by 241 thousand tons at Ilyich Steel, by 352 thousand tons at Azovstal and by 178 thousand tons at Yenakievo Steel.
The rise in hot metal output drove crude steel production higher. In 2016 it totaled 8,393 thousand tons, up by 9% YoY, with increases of 91 thousand tons at Ilyich Steel, 499 thousand tons at Azovstal and 134 thousand tons at Yenakievo Steel. (SCM/Ukrainian metal)