IMH operational results for 3m 2020

22 April 2020

Industrial Metallurgical Holding (IMH), one of the world’s leading supplier of merchant pig iron and the biggest merchant coke producer in Russia, announces its operational results for 3M 2020.

Key operational indicators:

Total pig iron production and sales decreased by 3% compared to the same period of 2019 on the back of the blast furnace No.3 maintenance in March. The share of pig iron supplies to the domestic market amounted to 71%, a 60 p.p. increase to compare with the level of 1Q 2019, which was due to additional demand driven by launch of a new consumer – the steelmaking and rolling complex Tulachermet-Steel LLC (Tula-Steel). Due to its location close to the Group’s pig iron facility, sales to this company allow to reduce transportation and distribution costs.

Total coke production decreased by 5% and shipments decreased by 12% on the back of lower demand from the European market during the first months of 2020. In addition to that coke shipments were impacted by reduction of intra-group consumption caused by maintenance period of blast furnace No.3.

Coal production in 1Q 2020 increased by 41% due to operations of Butovskaya and Tikhova mines back to normal. In the same period of 2019, coal production was affected by degassing works in potentially hazardous zones of the longwall 23-1-4 with difficult mining and geological conditions at Tikhova mine and mining through the zone of difficult geological conditions at Butovskaya mine. Currently, these factors ceased to exist, and mining operations are back to normal.

Coal concentrate output slightly reduced because of decreased volumes of third-party demand for processing and because of reduced demand for the products of the Berezovskaya washing plant.

Iron ore concentrate output decreased due to the ongoing development of reserves in the flank areas (peripheral segments of the deposit) with lower iron content in the ore. It is expected that the influence of this factor will be discontinued after commissioning of the new mining level at the Gubkin mine (KMAruda).

The company continues to implement the programs to improve labor productivity and economic efficiency. In 1Q 2020, 80 TOP-proposals were adopted for implementation. The total economic effect of implementing TOP-proposals from the beginning of the program to the end of the reporting period amounted to RUB 1.613 bln.

In April 2020 all of the Group’s production facilities operate normally in compliance with the norms and recommendations of the relevant ministries and state departments regarding prevention of the infectious diseases spread. At the moment, there are no plans to suspend any of the Group's production plants.