OREANDA-NEWS. Russian exports of ferrous products, including steel, pig iron and scrap, totalled 4.01mn t in December, up by over 13pc against November and nearly 9pc higher year on year.

Products exports in 2015 were up by more than 8pc at 41.44mn t, Russia's federal customs service said.

Russia exported 2.67mn t of saleable steel products in December, a 3.3pc rise compared with November and a more than 15pc increase against the same month a year earlier. Full-year saleable steel products' exports reached 28.31mn t, an 8.5pc increase compared with 2014.

Exports of semi-finished steel products rose by 8.4pc last year, to 14.64mn t. December shipments of 1.65mn t were 26.6pc higher than the previous month and up by 28.7pc year on year.

Exports of flat rolled steel products in December were down by 15.6pc from November at 663,100t, but registered 8pc growth compared with a year earlier. Total flat steel products' shipments of 7.97mn t last year were up by 4.6pc.

Russia exported 5.43mn t of pig iron in 2015, 22.5pc more than in 2014, with December shipments rising by 4.2pc compared with November to 618,300t — a 7.7pc year-on-year rise.

Imports of ferrous products — including steel products, pig iron, ferro-alloys and scrap — fell by 25.8pc to 4.57mn t last year. This includes 4.01mn t of steel products, 27.4pc lower than Russian imports a year earlier.

Russian crude steel production of 69.4mn t last year was down by 1.8pc and finished products output edged down by 1.5pc to 60.3mn t. But pig iron production rose by 4.4pc to 53.7mn t.