Metinvest Q3'23 iron ore output soars on 'cautiously improving' Ukraine economy

The year-over-year increase in third-quarter iron ore output by Metinvest BV led 20 of the world's largest producers on a percentage basis amid increasing signs of economic recovery in Ukraine.

The company's entirely Ukraine-based iron ore production increased 1.9 million metric tons year over year, or 207.3%, to 2.8 MMt, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Metinvest's iron ore assets "gradually ramped up output to at least 30% of pre-war levels" in the first half of 2023, as "expectations regarding Ukraine's economy are cautiously improving," the company said Sept. 19.

The miner cited the International Monetary Fund upgrading its 2023 real GDP growth outlook for the country to 1% to 3%, from the previous range of -3% to +1%, earlier this year. In November, private technical university Metinvest Polytechnic hosted its first international conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Metinvest has the potential to significantly increase foreign-currency earnings from Ukraine's steel exports, Group CFO Yuliya Dankova said Dec. 1.

Ukraine's government "plans to reorient the economy from raw materials to process manufacturing by stimulating investment in the real sector and non-raw material exports," the company said separately Dec. 1.

Flat overall output

Third-quarter output by China's Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. jumped 137.5% year over year to 643,000 metric tons, the second-largest percentage increase among the 20 miners analyzed. Brazil's Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional had the greatest tonnage gain of 2.0 MMt in the third quarter, representing an output increase of 20.4% year over year.

Anglo American PLC's iron ore production fell 6.9% year over year to 5.7 MMt in the third quarter, the greatest percentage drop.

Overall third-quarter production from the 20 miners analyzed inched up 0.8% year over year on average, despite a 22.9% jump in the NYMEX iron ore price as of Sept. 29 compared with a year earlier, according to Market Intelligence data.

Vale, BHP tonnage drops

Of the top-five mined iron ore producers, Vale SA, Rio Tinto Group and BHP Group Ltd. edged lower in third-quarter output, while Australia's Fortescue Ltd. and Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd. posted higher output.

Fortescue shipped its first product earlier this month from the Belinga project in Gabon, marking its first iron ore production outside Australia.

Among the five, Vale had the greatest fall in tonnage year over year of 3.3 MMt, followed by BHP's decline of 1.8 MMt.

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