Bloomberg has estimated that the U.S. tariff of 200% on Russian aluminum and aluminum products, which will be implemented on March 10, 2023, will have little impact on the U.S. market. The insignificant nature of the tariff’s impact is due to the fact that U.S. consumers have been reducing their purchases of Russian aluminum since the sanctions against UC Rusal. In 2022, Russian metal accounted for only 3% of total U.S. imports. The U.S. industry has largely switched to alternative suppliers in the Middle East, India, Argentina, and Australia, according to research company Harbor Intelligence.

Additionally, American buyers began refusing Russian aluminum after the 2018 sanctions against Russian billionaires, which caused a sharp rise in metal prices. By late 2022, U.S. dependence on the Russian metal had reduced to one-third of what it was in 2016 and 2017, according to the U.S. Aluminum Association.

The Russian Ministry of Economic Development predicts a decline in coal production in 2020 by 10.5 percent compared to last year to 395 million tons, according to the forecasts for the social and economic development of the country for 2021 and the planned period of 2022 and 2023 presented by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.

“The expected output in 2020 is estimated at 395 million tons (a decrease of 10.5 percent),” the document says.

The decline in production is related to low global coal prices and the continuation of the trend of falling purchasing volumes by a number of key consumers in the European market, the Ministry said.

According to the Central Transhipment Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex, Russian coal production fell by 9.2 percent year-on-year from January to August 2020 to 259.1 million tons.

One of the important areas of scientific and technical activity at Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) is the development of innovative products. In the first half of 2020, 8,246 tons of new products worth 365 million rubles were shipped.

Modern metallurgy is innovative in many respects, and it is no coincidence that MMK considers the development of scientific and technical activities to be the most important task for increasing production efficiency. The Science and Technology Center at MMK is responsible for scientific and technical policy and the implementation of innovative activities at the company. The Center annually implements innovations aimed at reducing production costs, meeting consumer expectations, and introducing new equipment designed to improve product quality and conserve the plant’s resources.

Consolidated revenue stood at 74.9 billion rubles, minus five percent compared to the second quarter of 2019.

In its full-year financial results for 2018, EVRAZ reported an increase of 18.6 percent year-on-year in consolidated revenues, which were USD12,836 million compared to USD10,827 million in 2017. This performance was driven mostly by an upswing in prices for vanadium and steel products amid more favorable market trends.

EVRAZ’s consolidated EBITDA amounted to USD3,777 million in the reporting period, compared to USD2,624 million in 2017, boosting the EBITDA margin from 24.2 percent to 29.4 percent and free cash flow to USD1,940 million. The improvement is primarily attributable to higher vanadium and steel product prices, lower expenses in U.S. dollar terms because of the effect that ruble weakening had on costs in 2018 versus 2017, as well as the impact of cost-cutting initiatives on efficiency. This was partly offset by an increase in prices for raw and auxiliary materials, including scrap, electrodes, and ferroalloys.

Mechel PAO, a leading Russian mining and metals company, reported launching an online store to market the company’s rolls.

Mechel Service OOO’s online store offers a wide range of rolls, including over 40,000 articles in 49 categories such as flat and section rolls, pipes, hot- and cold-rolled products, hardware, stainless rolls and others. The store’s website is www.mechelservice.ru/catalog.

The website also shows updated information on all of Mechel Service sales network’s subsidiaries located in 41 Russian cities and towns. Any Russian-based client can make a purchase and choose to use a delivery service, with the customer pick-up option also available. The store’s structure is simple and intuitively understandable, and an interactive catalog makes choosing and buying rolls easier.

The NLMK group’s EBITDA growth in the first quarter of 2018 reached three percent quarter-on-quarter to a record of USD812 million. In the first quarter of 2018, free cash flow increased three-fold quarter-on-quarter to USD599 million, driven by strong performance. The group’s revenue in the first quarter of 2018 declined by one percent to USD2.79 billion (plus 30 percent year-on-year), due to a seasonal drop in sales (minus five percent quarter-on-quarter), which was offset by the growth in prices.

The EBITDA grew to USD812 million (plus three percent quarter-on-quarter), driven by increases in steel prices and new operational efficiency programs.

The first quarter of the current year saw free cash flow increase three-fold quarter-on-quarter to USD599 million, largely attributable to profitability growth, a partial release of working capital, and lower investment.

Along with the announcement, the company’s first vice president and chief operating officer Sergey Dyachenko discussed first quarter production results with the media, “As the main phase of the company’s downstream reconfiguration program was completed last year and work-in-progress inventory levels got normalized, the company increased production of all key metals in the first quarter of this year. In addition, the company also actively processed copper concentrate purchased from Rostec. As a result, metal production from the company’s own Russian feedstock increased in the first quarter by 22 percent year-on-year. Furthermore, Nornickel Harjavalta was at capacity thanks to the company’s Russian feed. In April 2018, the first batch of copper concentrate, produced during the hot commissioning stage at Bystrinsky GOK (Chita Copper Project), was shipped to Chinese customers.

On April 17, 2018, Severstal, one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, announced its financial results for the first-quarter period that ended on March 31, 2018.

Q1 2018 vs. Q4 2017 analysis

The Severstal group’s revenue remained almost flat quarter-on-quarter at USD2,173 million (the fourth quarter of 2017 saw revenue at USD2,178 million), as a softening of sales volumes at the group’s Resources division was offset by an increase in average selling prices for raw materials and steel sales volumes growth in the first quarter of 2018.