Trading update for Q1

26 Apr 2006 13:28

OJSC Novolipetsk Steel26 April 2006 Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) releases trading update for Q1 2006 OJSC Novolipetsk Steel (LSE: NLMK) today released the following regular trading update for Q1 2006.* The table below shows the production volume of NLMK's principal steel products on its main site for Q1 2006: Q1 2006 Q1 2005 Change Amount Amount Amount % (in million of metric tonnes, except for percentages) Pig Iron 2.20 2.12 0.08 4.0 Steel 2.29 2.19 0.10 4.4 Slabs 0.98 0.90 0.08 8.9 Hot-rolled steel 0.43 0.51 -0.08 -14.6 Cold-rolled steel 0.59 0.54 0.05 7.8 Hot dip galvanized steel 0.09 0.06 0.03 55.7 Pre-painted steel 0.08 0.05 0.03 69.2 Non-grain-oriented steel 0.088 0.093 0.005 -5.9 Grain-oriented steel 0.04 0.03 0.01 19.3 The table below shows principal product tonnage produced at NLMK's Danish subsidiary, DanSteel A/S: Q1 2006 Q1 2005 Change Amount Amount Amount % (in thousands of tonnes, except for percentages) Heavy plates 114 146 -32 -27.7 * All information on production volumes is preliminary and may be subject to change. The table below shows the average price realized for each of NLMK's main steelsegments** for Q1 2006: USD per tonne (FCA) Q1 2006 Q1 2005 Change USD % Pig Iron 181 263 -82 -31.2 Slabs 255 428 -173 -40.4 Hot-rolled steel 426 516 -90 -17.4 Cold-rolled steel 508 615 -107 -17.4 Hot dip galvanized steel 745 818 -73 -8.9 Pre-painted steel 880 926 -46 -5.0 Non-grain-oriented steel 601 818 -217 -26.5 Grain-oriented steel 2909 1769 1140 64.4 The table below shows the DanSteel A/S average heavy plate prices** for Q1 2006: USD per tonne (FCA) Q1 2006 Q1 2005 Change USD % Heavy plates 649 888 -239 -36.8 ** excluding freight charge Anton Bazulev, NLMK's spokesman, commented: "We recently announced our new forecast of increasing steel output to 10million tonnes by 2010. NLMK's steel production volumes for the first quarterof 2006 rose 4.4% in comparison to Q1 2005. In addition, the companysubstantially increased the production of high value-added products during thefirst quarter. Despite a slight fall in prices at the beginning of the year, wecontinue to maintain a stable outlook for the global steel market." For further information: NLMK Anton Bazulev +7 495 915 1575 Financial Dynamics Jon Simmons +44 207 831 3113 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange