Russia's third largest steelmaker, PJSC Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, said March 13 that its shipments of metal products within the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS, grew by almost 6% year over year in 2018 to 9.03 million tonnes.

Sales within the CIS, which comprises 11 former Soviet Republics, were the highest since 2014, when Magnitogorsk sold 9.59 Mt, and represented 79% of overall sales. However, export shipments fell by 15.1% year over year to 2.38 Mt, according to a January trading update.

The company highlighted Russia's Ural and Volga regions as the most significant in terms of shipments, accounting for 36% and 18%, respectively, while the Central region and the CIS represented 15%.

Magnitogorsk's largest industrial customer in the Russian market, the pipe industry, accounted for over 2.0 Mt of metal products, while metal trading companies and service centers bought 2.5 Mt.

Meanwhile, the steelmaker noted that Russia's automotive industry purchased 535,000 tonnes of metal in 2018. The company previously reported the figure to be a record "almost 550,000" tonnes in an early February news release.

Hardware factories and recycling plants received 880,000 tonnes of shipments, and sales directly to the construction industry and manufacturers of building materials totaled 636,000 tonnes.