AO Holding Co. METALLOINVEST's iron ore production for 2016 improved 3.1% year over year to 40.7 million tonnes, reaching an all-time high along with the production of pellets, hot briquetted iron and direct reduced iron, and hot metal.

Total shipments for the year rose 0.7% from a year ago, to 27.8 million tonnes.

Pellet output increased 5.9% year on year to 25.2 million tonnes, mainly due to the launch of a pellet plant at Mikhailovsky GOK in Russia.

Production of hot briquetted iron and direct reduced iron in the year improved 4.8% year over year to 5.7 million tonnes on the back of higher productivity of direct reduced iron units at OEMK steel unit.

Hot metal output jumped 20.2% on a yearly basis to 3.0 million tonnes due to the launch of a blast furnace and a pig iron casting machine at the end of 2015.

The company's crude steel production increased 3.6% from a year ago, to 4.7 million tonnes.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Metalloinvest produced 10.3 million tonnes of iron ore, a 4.0% increase on a quarterly basis.

Shipments were up 9.9% on a quarterly basis and 1.1% year on year, to 7.3 million tonnes.

Pellet production in the quarter decreased 3.0% compared to the 2016 third quarter, to 6.3 million tonnes.

The company's fourth-quarter 2016 output of hot briquetted iron and direct reduced iron jumped 15.5% on a quarterly basis, to 1.5 million tonnes.

However, hot metal production in the quarter declined 5.4% quarter over quarter, to 702,000 tonnes.

Production of crude steel improved 5.7% to 1.2 million tonnes compared to the third quarter of 2016.