In the first half of 2019, Russian steel giant Severstal shipped 2.9 million tons of metal products to Russian builders, 16% more than in the same time last year, the company said, according to Steel Guru.
The steelmaker attributed the increase in supplies to the expansion of the geography of sales and the development of integrated logistics capabilities.
“For example, Severstal Steel Solutions has completed the longest supply of metal structures for the construction of a refrigerated warehouse for storing frozen fish products in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The direct distance from the Oryol production site to the facility was 7,200 km,” Severstal said.
This year, the company has redesigned the organization to provide better customer experience, creating a construction team specifically for the needs of customers from the construction industry. The new team focused on the supply of metal products and steel solutions to construction companies, manufacturers of building materials, components and metal structures, Severstal said.
Sales of rolled products with a polymer coating produced under the brands of Steel Silk, Steel Velvet and Steel Cashmere increased by 51% in the first half-year. In the spring of this year, Severstal began supplying polyurethane-coated metal products manufactured under the SeverFarm brand for the construction of facilities for the NOVATEK-Murmansk LLC Center for the Construction of Large-tonnage Marine Structures in the Murmansk Region.
Deliveries also increased due to an increase in focus on small end-users and the associated increase in sales through its own distribution network, the company noted. In the first half of the year, deliveries of Severstal Distribution JSC in Russia increased by more than 25% – up to 550 thousand tons of metal products. The growth of sales was also facilitated by the conclusion of long-term multi-product agreements with the largest manufacturers of building materials: facades, roofing materials, sandwich panels, and other light steel structures.
