The increase is mainly due to a 25% jump in tonnage sold to Russian Railways (RZD) from 228,000 tonnes in the final quarter of 2015 to 285,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this year, and increased exports to South America and the Middle East.

 

However, railway products sales dropped by 8.7% in North America from 135,000 tonnes in the final quarter of 2015 to 123,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2016. There was an even greater fall in sales comparing the first quarter of 2015 and 2016, where tonnage fell by 13.5%. Evraz blames lower demand for the reduction in North American railway products sales.

Evraz has also been hit by the global decline in steel prices, with the price per tonne of railway products in Russia falling from $US 512 per tonne in the first quarter of 2014 to $US 414 per tonne in the first quarter of this year.