Sunday, May 15, 2005
Russia MMK says forced to cut steel output
Yahoo! Asia News
Russian steel firm Magnitogorsk (MMK) plans to shut three of its eight furnaces due to shortages of raw materials caused by a loss of key suppliers, a spokesman for MMK said on Saturday.
'The decision has been taken officially,' Ivan Senichev said. Although an official order had not yet been signed, one furnace might be halted as early as Monday, another on June 1, and the third on June 10.
MMK, which consumes around 500,000 tonnes of iron ore pellets a month, used to receive around 70 percent of them from Sokolov-Sarbai ore enrichment plant (GOK), Kazakhstan's biggest iron ore producer, and the rest from Russia's Mikhailovsky GOK.
On Friday Mikhailovsky announced it was stopping deliveries to MMK, after MMK declined to sign a new contract citing very high prices. Sokolov-Sarbai stopped supplies to MMK on May 9.
Russian steel firm Magnitogorsk (MMK) plans to shut three of its eight furnaces due to shortages of raw materials caused by a loss of key suppliers, a spokesman for MMK said on Saturday.
'The decision has been taken officially,' Ivan Senichev said. Although an official order had not yet been signed, one furnace might be halted as early as Monday, another on June 1, and the third on June 10.
MMK, which consumes around 500,000 tonnes of iron ore pellets a month, used to receive around 70 percent of them from Sokolov-Sarbai ore enrichment plant (GOK), Kazakhstan's biggest iron ore producer, and the rest from Russia's Mikhailovsky GOK.
On Friday Mikhailovsky announced it was stopping deliveries to MMK, after MMK declined to sign a new contract citing very high prices. Sokolov-Sarbai stopped supplies to MMK on May 9.
