OREANDA-NEWS. Cherepovets Steel Mill (“the company”), part of Severstal Russian Steel, a division within OAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, has already completed its order book for March and has employed its rolling facilities at full utilization. The order book primarily comprises high value-added products for high-growth markets.

A combination of the full utilization of the mill's facilities, an increase in prices of rolled products globally and higher raw material costs has meant that Cherepovets Steel Mill has increased prices for its products in Russia. The company has increased the price of its hot-rolled sheet to be delivered in March 2013 by 2%, and cold-rolled sheet by 3%.

Dmitry Goroshkov, Director of Marketing and Sales at Severstal Russian Steel, commented: “We believe that there is significant growth potential in offering unique products and unique services to our customers. We see major opportunities for further development in the construction, automotive, heavy engineering and fuel and energy sectors.”

In 2012, Severstal was ranked the leader amongst the Russian steelmaking companies in terms of the share of high value-added products within the sales portfolio. This year the Cherepovets Steel Mill will continue to develop and deliver new products for attractive markets, including the introduction of new branded products for the construction sector and corrosion-resistant steel types for the fuel & energy, housing and utilities industries.

The company's strategy is to increase market share primarily in domestic regions, both for basic and high value-added products. The company will also continue to improve its customer service, including through the expansion of its Technical Customer Support network and continue to drive efficiency in its distribution network.