19th Jan 2016 11:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - Steel maker Evraz PLC Tuesday said production fell across all of its segments during 2015, with prices also considerably lower compared to 2014, driven by worsening market conditions and the de-consolidation of its steel and vanadium slag producer.
The company said it produced 14.3 million tonnes of crude steel in 2015, a 7.5% fall from the 15.5 million tonnes produced in 2014, caused by the de-consolidation of Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium Ltd in South Africa, the company's vertically integrated steel and vanadium slag producer.
"Without Highveld, the decrease in crude steel production would be 5%, with the worsening market conditions in the key markets as the main driver of the decline in crude steel and steel products output," said the company.
Production of steel products, net of re-rolled volumes, was down 6.4% year-on-year to 13.1 million tonnes from 14.0 million tonnes.
That led to the amount of finished products falling significantly year-on-year, dropping 15% to 8.2 million tonnes from 9.6 million tonnes. Finished products consists of construction, railway, flat-rolled, tubular and other steel products, which all fell between 6% and 31% during the year.
Flat-rolled products refers to steel plates whilst tubular products covers pipes and casings. Other steel products include grinding balls, mine uprights and strips.
Average selling prices were also generally lower in 2015 compared to 2014. Saleable coke prices in Russia and Kazakhstan fell to USD109 per tonne from USD118, pig iron prices dropped to USD180 per tonne from USD293 and prices for its steel products all fell considerably.
In North America, steel product prices followed suit, with construction product prices dropping by USD143 a tonne to USD649, flat-rolled product prices fell by USD231 a tonne to only USD724 and tubular product prices fell by USD222 a tonne to USD1,111.
Saleable coking coal production dropped 15% year-on-year in 2015 to 966,000 tonnes from 1.1 million tonnes, with saleable pig iron production dropping 3.6% to 11.9 million tonnes from 12.4 million tonnes.
Raw coking coal prices dropped to only USD34 per tonne in 2015 compared to USD46 per tonne in 2014, with coking coal concentrate prices falling to USD58 per tonne from USD70.
Evraz shares were up 6.2% to 62.15 pence per share on Tuesday.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Evraz