Novy Region cited Mr Victor Rashnikov Chairman of MMK while the visit of regional authorities to the mill 5000 as saying that Russia to face a new stage of recession in the nearest future.

He said that it has been forecasted before, and steelmakers already feel its start.

At MMK, for instance, shipments have sufficiently dropped. Order flow for reinforced bar and long products is decreasing. These are the signs for there is no recover of steel demand in Russia and in the world. Simultaneously, prices for iron ore jeopardized by 90% what forces steelmakers to lift their finished steel prices. So, MMK’s steel prices are 18% up already.

However, it tried to hold them unchanged for automotive consumers. Thus, in June the prices will grow for them as well by 10% to 15%.

(Sourced from Novy Region)