Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), Russia's largest steelmaker, increased the export sales volumes from its Russian assets in 2018 because of higher demand for steel slabs and pig iron, the company said on Friday January 18.
NLMK exported 10.91 million tonnes of semi-finished and finished steel products from its flat and long steel divisions in 2018. This was an increase of 9.1% from the divisions' total exports in 2017, which was 10 million tonnes.Meanwhile, domestic sales in Russia came to 5.78 million tonnes. This was a reduction of 4% from local shipments a year before, which totaled 6.02 million tonnes.Sales to the home market fell due to decreased shipments from the company's flat steel division because of "lower demand in the large-diameter pipes [LDP] segment and the construction industry, and planned hot-rolling mill maintenance."Finished steel sales by NLMK's Russia flat products division were down by 6% year-on-year in 2018 to 5.55 million tonnes, against 5.89 million tonnes in 2017.Meanwhile, sales of finished steel...