OREANDA-NEWS. EVRAZ plc (LSE: EVR) today releases its operational results for the second quarter of 2013.

Q2 2013 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

Consolidated crude steel production was flat in Q2 2013 vs. Q1 2013 and the Company’s key steelmaking facilities in Russia and North America continued operating at high utilisation rates
Output of steel products increased by 3% mostly driven by strong demand for construction products in Russia and growth of output of rails in Russia at the modernised EVRAZ ZSMK rail mill. Share of finished steel products improved to 77% in Q2 2013 vs. 74% in Q1 2013
The PCI project at EVRAZ NTMK became fully operational early in Q2 2013
Output of iron ore products was largely flat in Q2 2013 with the main focus on cost-cutting and implementation of operational efficiency initiatives
Yuzhkuzbassugol’s raw coking coal output grew by 6% as Yerunakovskaya-VIII and other mines achieved robust performance, while Raspadskaya decreased output by 25% vs. Q1 2013 due to suspension of mining at the Raspadskaya mine and repositioning of longwall at the MUK-96 mine
Average selling prices for most key steel product groups softened in line with the global steel market.
The Q2 2013 overall production of crude steel remained flat quarter-on-quarter, as higher output in Russia was largely offset by lower output at other operations.

 Consolidated production of finished steel goods increased by 7% vs. Q1 2013 mostly driven by stronger construction and railway products’ output in Russia. As a result, the share of finished steel products as a percentage of total production of steel products, net of re-rolled volumes, improved to 77% in Q2 2013 compared to 74% in Q1 2013.