OREANDA-NEWS. NLMK Group is pleased to announce its Q3 2015 and 9M 2015 operating results.

In January - September 2015, NLMK Group increased production by 2% yoy and sales by 7% yoy. Capacity utilization rates for core steelmaking operations was close to 100%.

9M 2015 highlights:

• 9M 2015 crude steel output increased to 12.01 m t (+2% yoy), which corresponds to a 94% Group capacity utilization rate.
• Increased productivity as a result of operational efficiency programmes allowed surpassing last year’s record crude steel output.
• Group sales increased to 12.05 m t (+7% yoy) driven by growth of shipments to international markets (+17% yoy).

Q3 2015 highlights:

• Q3 2015 steelmaking utilization rates of the Group were 93% (-1 p.p. qoq), including 100% at the Lipetsk site.
• Group crude steel output was stable at 4.09 m t.
• Group sales increased to 4.08 m t (+2% qoq) due to higher finished product shipments (2.73 m t; +6% qoq) while semi-finished product sales declined by 5% qoq.
• Sales to the Russian market went up to 1.73 m t (+12% qoq) on the back of favourable demand for flat steel, which share in total sales increased to 53% (+4 p.p. qoq).