Pellet production rises at Ferrexpo

Iron ore producer Ferrexpo saw pellet production rise in the second quarter, though year-to-date production is down year-on-year because of lower availability of third party concentrate.

The company, which has its headquarters in Switzerland and iron ore assets in Ukraine, saw pellet production from its own ore rise 2.1% to 2.31m tonnes in the second quarter from 2.26m tonnes in the preceding quarter. Output in the first half of 2012 from the group's own raw materials was up 3.8% to 4.56m tonnes from 4.39m tonnes in the first half of 2011.

Production and reprocessing from purchased raw materials leapt 83.7% in the second quarter to 104,900 tonnes from the first quarter total pellet production of 57,100 tonnes.

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Total pellets produced from bought-in raw materials plus Ferrexpo's own produce were up 4.1% quarter-on-quarter at 2.41m tonnes from 2.31m tonnes in the first quarter. Production in the first half of the year came in at 4.72m tonnes, down 1.3% on the 4.78m tonnes produced in the first half of 2011.

JH