Russian steel and mining group Severstal said Wednesday iron ore pellet sales rose slightly in the second quarter, to 2.9 million mt, and coking coal sales recovered from Q1 as new mine areas were developed.
Severstal said first-half pellet sales volume rose 4% to 5.46 million mt, in an operations report. Iron ore pellet sales volumes in the second quarter were impacted by stock reduction.
The group's first half iron ore concentrate sales were unchanged at 2.04 million mt, while concentrate volumes in Q2 rose to 1.24 million mt, from 1.11 million mt in Q2 2016.
The increase was due to a planned increase in production and seasonal factors, allowing for a recovery in sales back to year-earlier levels.
Coking coal sales from the Vorkutaugol division increased 16% to 827,154 mt in Q2 from Q1, following scheduled long-wall repositioning at the Vorkutinskaya and Komsomolskaya mines in Q1, the company said.
Sales totaled 1.08 million mt in Q2 2016, as the company worked to recover from an explosion at the Severnaya mine.
Internal coking coal concentrate procurement increased 16% quarter-on-quarter while Severstal said "minor volumes" were allocated for external sales and these volumes "remained broadly flat."
