In Q4, Severstal made 2.7 million mt of crude steel, down 10% quarter on quarter, converting this into 2.65 million mt of saleable products, a 6% drop in volumes. Exports comprised 41% of this total, up from 33% in Q3 2019. The company had to divert tonnage away from the domestic market where demand was softening during a seasonal slowdown.

The share of high value-added (HVA) products remained unchanged on the quarter at 45%, supported by higher heavy plate and cold rolled coil sales as volumes of longs and hot rolled coils declined.

In the full year 2019, the company's crude steel output slipped 2% on 2018 to 11.85 million mt, as higher facilities' productivity was offset by lower electric arc furnace output in the second half of 2019 following the sale of the 1 million mt/year EAF-based Balakovo mini-mill.

However, the company kept its steel product shipments flat for the year at 11.15 million mt. (S&P Global Platts)

• [Editor:kangmingfei]