Russian metallurgists showed good financial results

Against the background of increased prices and weak global demand, in the second quarter, Russian metallurgists managed to gain profit. The increase in profits was facilitated by the low exchange rate of the ruble and lower prices for raw materials.

According to analysts, the rather strong positions of Russian metallurgists in the domestic market may decline significantly next year, and in the world they will face solid competition with Chinese producers.

On August 28, the largest ferrous metallurgy enterprise Evraz Abramovich, Abramov and Frolov presented a report for the first half of the year. And only Igor Zyuzin's company Mechel will submit its report only in October.

With the exception of Alexei Mordashov's company Severstal, all other metallurgists in this sector came out in the first half of the year with a profit.

For the first time since 2013, Viktor Rashnikov's MMK made a profit of $ 80 million in half a year.
Evraz was profitable in 2011, then the profit was about $ 453 million, and now 2014 and the company is on the rise again.

In the first half of the year, the demand for steel on the world market increased by almost 2.2%. Production has also grown, it is more than 821.35 million tons, while the global capacities of metallurgists are loaded by only 78.5%.

Today analysts record stable prices and growth in demand for metallurgical products all over the world.

But according to Metal-Expert, in the domestic market in Russia, there is a slight decline in demand for steel by 2-3%, or up to 22 million tons of finished products.

Russian metallurgists also predict, taking into account the seasonality, the third quarter should also be successful. Mr. Chuiko from BCS says that there are already orders for the fourth quarter for long products, orders for flat products have remained at the same level, and this is encouraging.

According to forecasts for 2015, there will be a slight decrease in demand for metallurgical products on the domestic market. In European countries, the rolled metal market will begin to gradually recover. In the US, the metal market has grown this year, but imports are practically limited. Asia and the Middle East, there is strong competition with China.