Exports of steel suspended

Azerbaijan for the first time in many years, virtually suspended the export of semi-finished steel. The only manufacturer of this product, LLC Baku Steel Company (BSC) does not comment on the fact, noting only that the company is currently working on the domestic market.

For the six months of this year, Azerbaijan exported only 172.1 tons of semi-finished steel, while the volume of imports of this nomenclature ferrous metal was 45,833.8 tons. For the whole 2013 there was imported 57,300 tons of semi-finished steel.

In the first half of this year, steel casting production in Azerbaijan amounted to 145 100 tons, which is 20.2% more than in the comparable period of 2013.

Decline in exports of steel semi-finished products continued in 2012. The only buyer of steel from Azerbaijan is Iran. While in 2010 Azerbaijan exported 17,113 tons (the cost of exported goods - $ 393 / t), and in 2010 already 100 519.5 tons (481.5 $ / t) of semi-finished steel, in 2011 this index reached a record high - 203 000 tons (453.2 $ / ton). In 2012, exports began to fall again and reached 110,000 tons. In this case, the export value of production amounted to 529.6 dollars per 1 ton. In the local market BSC implements its main end product (construction fittings) at $ 875 / t.

According to the State Statistics Committee, in the first half of this year, production of fittings in Azerbaijan also decreased and amounted to 100,700 tons (-23.7%).

In July this year, BSC announced bringing the production capacity to 1 million tons per year. Earlier it was reported that the capacity of the smelting steel plant is 770 000 tons per year .-- 08B-