Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) sold around 1.8 mln tonnes of long products in 2018, of which 98% were shipped to the domestic market including CIS countries.

This was announced by the MMK Sales Department's leading expert, Alexander Margishvili, at the Long and Shaped Products: New Market Configuration conference which took place in Moscow. According to him, despite an increasing excess production capacity for long products in Russia (currently, less than 50% of production capacities are being utilised), MMK’s sales in 2018 have remained at approximately the same level as the previous year, amounting to around 1.8 mln tonnes. MMK's production capacities for long products are being fully utilised. Thus, 78% of long products were sold in the Russian market, another 20% went to CIS countries, and the remaining 2% was exported.

Recently, MMK has been aiming to reduce production of its ordinary range and to increase its production of more high-margin products. The latter already accounts for around 30% of sales. MMK is increasing its long product sales via its own sales network, MMK Trading House, which has over 30 branches in Russia, including a production site in Shchyolkovo, a service metal centre (SMC) in Magnitogorsk, as well as 5 warehouses in Kazakhstan. Since 2014, MMK Trading House's long product sales both in Russia and Kazakhstan have grown by 23% from 315,000 tonnes to 387,000 tonnes. In order to increase its long product sales, MMK is working to enter new markets and commercial sectors and aims to continuously improve the quality of its products, customer service, and business processes as well as to introduce IT technologies.

The 9th National Conference for Long and Shaped Products: New Market Configuration is organised by the Metal Supply and Sales magazine and took place between 28-29 March both in Moscow and in the Kaluga Region. Among those who attended the conference were company management and specialists, suppliers and processors of reinforced and shaped products, and representatives from metals & mining companies, SMCs, industrial enterprises and construction sectors, state departments, research organisations and analytical agencies. The focus of the event was on the forecasts of leading experts for the production market and of long product demand in Russia, for sales and investment policy of domestic long product manufacturers in 2019, for new production projects, and on the predictions for market changes in the near future.

About MMK

MMK is one of the world's largest steel producers and a leading Russian metals company. The company's operations in Russia include a large steel-producing unit encompassing the entire production chain, from the preparation of iron ore to downstream processing of rolled steel. MMK turns out a broad range of steel products with a predominant share of high-value-added products. In 2018, the company produced 12.7 mln tonnes of crude steel and 11.7 mln tonnes of commercial steel products. MMK Group had sales in 2018 of USD 8,214 mln and EBITDA of USD 2,418 mln.

Investor contacts:
Andrey Serov
tel.: +7 (3519) 24-52-97
E-mail: serov.ae@mmk.ru
Media contacts:
Dmitry Kuchumov
tel.: +7 (499) 238-26-13
E-mail: kuchumov.do@mmk.ru
Dmitry Bulin
tel.: +7 (499) 238-26-13
E-mail: bulin.dn@mmk.ru