According to Mr Rafkat Takhautdinov vice president for strategic development MMK, now Russia’s biggest steelmaker by volume will produce 830,000 tonnes of steel in July and will keep production at that level in August.

MMK produced 1.9 million tonnes of steel in the Q2 and it expects to produce 8.4 million to 8.5 million tonnes of finished products this year, down from 10.9 million in 2008.

Mr Shmakov said “We see exports and domestic prices rising as the demand grows. We mainly export hot rolled coil to the Middle East and Europe and sell mainly hot rolled coil and rolled section in Russia. He said that MMK was not planning acquisitions this year and would concentrate on current projects.”

Mr Alexander Raskopov who led construction of the polymer coated steel mill said at the production site “Polymer coated steel is in high demand, despite the crisis. We currently produce 17,000 to 18,000 tonnes of color coated steel per month, while we get orders for 29,000 tonnes.”

(Sourced from The Moscow Times)