OREANDA-NEWS. METALLOINVEST, a leading global iron ore and HBI producer and one of the regional steel producers, today announces its operational results for the third quarter of 2013.

Management comments

In Q3 2013, iron ore production amounted to 9.5 mn tonnes, representing a 1.1% decrease q-o-q

The Company increased the production of pellets in Q3 2013 by 4.2% q-o-q to 5.7 mn tonnes

HBI/DRI production decreased by 2.7% q-o-q and amounted to 1.3 mn tonnes in Q3 2013

During the reporting period, shipments to customers from Russia and the CIS reached 3.9 mn tonnes, representing 57% of the Company's total shipments of iron ore products. Q3 2013 saw decreased volumes of deliveries to MMK and Mechel, while deliveries to NLMK and Severstal increased q-o-q

Europe's share in the Company's total shipments of iron ore products increased to 23% compared to 17% in Q2 2013, which is mainly attributed to the increase of iron ore and pellet shipments to U.S. Steel Kosice and ArcelorMittal's plants in Eastern Europe

In Q3 2013, the Company increased q-o-q shipments of pellets and HBI to steel plants in Turkey - mainly, to Erdemir and Izmir

Shipments to China in Q3 2013 decreased to 0.5 mn tonnes, representing 8% of the Company's total shipments of iron ore products

Mining Segment

In Q3 2013, the production of iron ore concentrate at LGOK decreased by 3.8% q-o-q to 5.0 mn tonnes, mainly due to implementation of maintenance works of railway lines and equipment at the beneficiation plant

MGOK increased the production of iron ore concentrate by 2.2% to 4.2 mn tonnes in Q3 2013. The growth is attributed to the increase of working calendar time and the reduced time of planned maintenance works compared to Q2 2013

Pellet production at LGOK in Q3 2013 was broadly in line with the Q2 2013 level and amounted to 2.2 mn tonnes (+0.9% q-o-q)

MGOK returned to its quarterly pellet production levels of 2.5 mn tonnes (+5.6% q-o-q), which is mainly due to the planned major maintenance works at Pellet Plant #1 in Q2 2013

HBI production in Q3 2013 decreased by 3.5% q-o-q to 0.6 mn tonnes due to the implementation of planned major maintenance works at HBI-1 plant during the reporting period

In Q3 2013, LGOK and MGOK increased shipments of pellets by 5.9% q-o-q to 1.3 mn tonnes, and by 5.7% q-o-q to 2.5 mn tonnes, respectively. The increase of pellet shipments is linked to the decrease of HBI production at LGOK and the completion of major maintenance works at MGOK's Pellet Plant in Q2 2013

Steel Segment

In Q3 2013, OEMK increased the production of pellets by 8.7% q-o-q to 1.0 mn tonnes due to the completion of planned maintenance works at Pellet Plant in June 2013

During the reporting period, production of DRI at OEMK decreased insignificantly by 1.8% q-o-q to 0.6 mn tonnes, which is attributed to implementation of planned maintenance works at the DRI facilities

Steel production at OEMK remained practically unchanged at the level of 0.8 mn tonnes in Q3 2013

In Q3 2013, Ural Steel enhanced the steel production by 6.3% q-o-q to 0.4 mn tonnes due to the increased number of effective orders

Ural Steel built up its shipments of pig iron by 4.3% q-o-q to 0.4 mn tonnes in Q3 2013