Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works took first place in the Industry Exporter of the Year category at the federal district stage of the All-Russian Exporter of the Year Award in the ‘Large Businesses’ category.

The award ceremony for the winners of the district stage of the Exporter of the Year Award was held in Yekaterinburg on 26 October. MMK was represented at the awards ceremony by Oleg Fedonin, Head of the Department for External Economic Activity and Automotive Sales.

"We are glad that MMK's work contributes to the development of foreign economic activities in the Urals region, our home region," said Oleg Fedonin. "The Russian market traditionally occupies the largest share in MMK's sales structure, but export is also important for us. It allows us to maintain flexibility in the sales structure, engage all capacities and be present abroad, including with our premium products. Magnitogorsk's metal, thanks to its high quality, wide product mix, excellent customer service and well-functioning supply logistics, is in high demand among customers in export markets."

In 2020, MMK shipped 2.89 million tonnes of rolled steel to foreign markets, of which more than 1.68 million tonnes were shipped to non-CIS countries. A little over 1.2 million tonnes were shipped to customers in the former Soviet Union, which, along with the Russian market, has historically been one of MMK's priority markets. The key region in terms of exports in 2020, excluding post-USSR, was South-East Asia. As for post-Soviet countries, Uzbekistan was MMK's main "customer" last year.

MMK continues to develop its exports in 2021: in the first nine months of this year the volume of exports already reached more than 3 million tonnes of steel products, exceeding the total volume of the previous year. This is primarily due to consistently high demand in foreign markets, as well as the high utilization rate of the hot-rolling mill 2500, the reconstruction of which was completed last year.

The All-Russian International Cooperation and Export Award "Exporter of the Year" is awarded to organisations and individual entrepreneurs who have achieved the greatest success in exports of non-energy commodities, works and services. The award was initiated by "International Cooperation and Export", a national project developed in accordance with the Presidential Decree "On National Goals and Strategic Tasks of the Development of the Russian Federation for the Period until 2024".