OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2010. The Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (LSE: NCSP, RTS and MICEX: NMTP) hereby reports its consolidated operating results for January 2010. In the reporting period NCSP Group’s cargo turnover amounted to 7,190.2 thousand tons, which exceeds the cargo turnover in January 2009 by 2.1% (146.6 thousand tons).

General cargo volumes in January 2010 increased by 17.6% (138.2 thousand tons) versus same period in 2009. Growth in this segment was driven by ferrous metals (volumes up by 23.5% or 138.4 thousand tons), timber (up by 38.5% or 39.0 thousand cubic meters), and perishable cargo (up by 108.6% or 17.0 thousand tons). Pig iron shipments were suspended in January 2010 (down by 30.1 thousand tons) due to lower demand in the European market.

Bulk cargo volumes in the reporting period grew by 12.0% (104.8 thousand tons) as compared to January 2009. Grain volumes increased by 45.8% (199.9 thousand tons), raw sugar by 94.4% (47.1 thousand tons), and dry mineral fertilizers by 31.6% (41.0 thousand tons). Growing domestic steel production and corresponding growth in demand for iron ore resulted in the decrease iron ore export volumes by 179.5 thousand tons in January 2010, which was offset by 138.4 thousand tons increase in ferrous metals handling.

Liquid cargo volumes reduced slightly by 2.6% (137.7 thousand tons) versus January 2009. At the same time handling of UAN liquid fertilizer was resumed (36.2 thousand tons in January 2010), while oil products and seed oils volumes grew by 7.4% (87.9 thousand tons) and 21.1% respectively. Volumes of crude oil reduced by 6.6% (266.7 thousand tons).

Container traffic in January this year increased by 6.5% (1.3 thousand TEU) versus January 2009.