Fitch Ratings upgraded OJSC MMK credit ratings today. Long-term IDR rating was upgraded to 'BB+' from 'BB' with stable outlook; national long-term rating was upgraded to 'AA (rus)' from 'AA- (rus)' with stable outlook.

The upgrade of MMK's ratings reflects the finalisation in 2011 of scaled investment projects (Mill 2000 and MMK-Atakas in Turkey) which will considerably strengthen the Company’s position as a producer of high value-added steel products and improves its geographic diversification of assets and revenues.
In Fitch's view, Russian steel market fundamentals remain strong. Russian companies would likely benefit from an expected increase of apparent steel consumption in Russia.
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About MMK
MMK is among the world's largest steel producers and is one of the leaders of Russia's steel industry. The company's operations in Russia include a large steel producing complex encompassing the entire production chain, from preparation of iron ore to downstream processing of rolled steel. MMK turns out a broad range of steel products with a predominant share of higher value added products. MMK realizes MMK-Atakas project in Turkey with annual capacity of 2.3 mln tons of flat steel. In 2010 MMK Group produced 11.4 mln tons of crude steel and 10.4 mln tons of commercial steel products.