OREANDA-NEWS. PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, today announces its operational results for Q3 2015 and 9M 2015.

Q3 2015 GROUP HIGHLIGHTS

? Crude steel production increased 2% to 2.89 mln tonnes (Q2 2015: 2.85 mln tonnes), while hot metal output increased 1% to 2.31 mln tonnes (Q2 2015: 2.29 mln tonnes) against the previous quarter, during which steel production was impacted by scheduled maintenance at the BOF#3 and continuous caster #2 and #4.

? Severstal’s proximity to the border allowed the Company to flexibly relocate sales volumes from export market, with share of domestic deliveries within the sales mix increasing to 67% (Q2 2015: 59%).

? Consolidated sales of steel products increased 13% q/q with Severstal’s steel assets continuing to run at near to full capacity. Steel consumption in Russia was stronger q/q despite less pronounced seasonality compared with previous years.

? Together this enabled the Company to reduce inventory levels and improve its receivables turnover ratio.

? The share of high value-added (HVA) products in the sales portfolio remained strong at 47% (Q2 2015: 47%) despite a 16% q/q increase in semi-finished products sales and a 9% q/q increase in hot-rolled coil sales.

? Coking coal concentrate sales remained flat q/q in spite of a decrease in ROM-coal output volumes in Q3 at Vorkutaugol on the back of scheduled long-walls repositioning activity during the period.

? Global steel prices continued to decline, largely impacted by concerns regarding the prospects of the Chinese economy. However, successful increases in RUB-denominated prices reflects improved buying activity on the domestic market, which has partially offset the impact of RUB devaluation.

SUMMARY OF KEY PRODUCTION, SALES VOLUMES AND SELLING PRICES DATA

Production, tonnes

Q3 2015

Q2 2015

Change, %

9M 2015

9M 2014

Change, %

Crude steel (Russian Steel)

2,893,026

2,847,753

2%

8,700,168

8,410,240

3%

Hot metal (Russian Steel)

2,313,103

2,289,358

1%

6,907,773

6,755,320

2%
             

Sales volumes, tonnes

Q3 2015

Q2 2015

Change, %

9M 2015

9M 2014

Change, %

Coking coal concentrate

1,458,964

1,458,915

0%

4,190,521

3,900,648

7%

Iron ore pellets

2,729,137

2,600,490

5%

7,906,080

7,863,134

1%

Iron ore concentrate

1,126,007

1,072,732

5%

3,183,011

3,449,213

(8%)

Total steel products (Consolidated)

3,001,339

2,658,122

13%

8,204,329

7,766,056

6%

Total steel products (Russian Steel)

3,012,818

2,671,598

13%

8,242,940

7,938,292

4%
             

Average price, $/tonne

Q3 2015

Q2 2015

Change, %

9M 2015

9M 2014

Change, %

Coking coal concentrate, Vorkutaugol

64

91

(30%)

73

95

(23%)

Iron ore pellets, Karelsky Okatysh

45

52

(13%)

49

89

(45%)

Iron ore concentrate, Olkon

30

35

(14%)

32

61

(48%)

Hot-rolled coil (RSD)

356

405

(12%)

384

496

(23%)

 

High value added steel products, %

Q3 2015

Q2 2015

Change, %

9M 2015

9M 2014

Change, %

Severstal (Consolidated)

47%

47%

0 ppts

47%

49%

(2 ppts)

Severstal Russian Steel

47%

47%

0 ppts

47%

49%

(2 ppts)