altavista translation:
One of its most important producers encountered with the sharp shortage of the coke As reported yesterday the administration as reported yesterday the administration city of upper ufaley (Chelyabinsk province) the basic production JOINT STOCK COMPANY Of "ufaleynikel'" - the second in Russia enterprise for the production of nickel and cobalt. Reason - sharp scarcity of coke (important component of energy-consuming metallurgical production) as a result of a sharp increase in the prices of it. Only for the first quarter of the present year they grew almost 4. It is expected that to correct situation will be able the recently become the owners of enterprise structures KB "acropolis". However, with the searches for the new suppliers of the raw fuel owners "ufaleynikelya" can encounter serious difficulties. Practically all producers of coke now are already "tied" to the specific users, and power on the production of coke are loaded to the limit. Under these conditions, according to the estimations of collocutors RBC daily, instead of the planned month of the simple of enterprise can be tightened even on half a year - yr. JOINT STOCK COMPANY Of "ufaleynikel'" is the second in Russia after "Noril'sk nickel" producer of granulated nickel and metallurgical cobalt - valuable raw material, utilized with the smelting of alloy steel. According to the estimations of the analysts of the journal "metallurgical bulletin", the production of enterprise is of about 0,7-0,8% of world market for nickel. In 2003. "ufaleynikel'" let out about 7,5 thousand t of nickel and 2,4 thousand T. of cobalt. "ufaleynikel'" has its own raw-material base for the production of nickel - it manages license and develops The serovskiy nickel mine in the Chelyabinsk province. Cobalt is produced from the daval'cheskogo cobalt concentrate, obtained in "nornickel". Until recently control block of shares of the enterprise through a number of the affilirovannykh structures belonged to the chairman of the council of directors "ufaleynikelya", to owner Mark leyvikov. However, at the end of April - beginning of May Mr. Leyvikov sold his actions to the group of companies under the management KB "acropolis", to the owner of the active memberships of another nickel combine in the Urals - The rezhskeyeo nickel plant (Sverdlovsk region). New owners planned to include "ufaleynikel'" in the chain of vertical integration in their group. It is planned, that finally the transaction on the change of the owners of enterprise will be completed to 25 May of this year. However, recently basic production on JOINT STOCK COMPANY Of "ufaleynikel'", which is the most important town-forming enterprise of upper ufaley city, was stopped until 1 June. For lately this already the second cessation of production - on 22 March the enterprise stopped nickel production at the month. This situation can aggravate even without that the difficult position Of "ufaleynikelya" - only in April the losses of enterprise were 60 million rub. Chapter upper ufaleya Yuri abdurakhimov he stated that the stoppage of the town-forming enterprise undoubtedly negatively will affect also the municipal budget - at present the tax deductions Of "ufaleynikelya" form 70% of local budget. Furthermore, in connection with the cessation of production of approximately 4 thousand inhabitants of upper ufale were sent for the termless forced vacation. the "basic reason for the cessation of production - the scarcity of coke in connection with an increase in the prices of the coke", said RBC daily the analyst of the journal "metallurgical bulletin" Nataliya shaforostova. As it explained in turn the chief of analytical division THE IR "prospectus" of Natalie Odintsov, the process of the production of nickel is very material and energy-consuming (prime cost of the production Of "ufaleynikelya" it composes of about 80% of total cost of production) and it requires a significant quantity of coking coal. "however coke - scarce raw material, said RBC daily Natalie Odintsov. - its basic users - important steel foundry companies, majority of whom has (or it attempts to have) its own raw-material base. As a result only for THE I quarter of 2004 the price of coke on the internal Russian market (following a sharp increase in the prices of steel and rental on the world markets) grew 4 - with 95 dollars. to 380 dollars. for the ton ". According to the estimations of the interrogated RBC daily experts, at the level 400 dollars. for the ton of price of the coke they will be preserved also during May. Under these conditions, according to the statements of director general JOINT STOCK COMPANY "ufaleynikel'" of Sergey biryukov, to one obtained from the work of enterprise ruble are fallen 1,57 rub of expenditures, which is extremely disadvantageous. However, in the opinion of collocutors RBC daily, even under these conditions it was possible to manage without the cessation of production. According to official data, the gross realization Of "ufaleynikelya" for 3 quarters of 2003 was about 47 million dollars. (in comparison with 67 million dollars. in complete 2002), and the operating losses of enterprise only in THE I quarter were about 6 million dollars. "in principle, the financial problems of company in THE I quarter of ob"yasnimy. The production Of "ufaleynikelya" is stably unprofitable since 2001, although as early as 2000 it was profitable, he says Natalie odinqova. - however not to such an extent so as to stop plant. Indeed a drop in the production on "ufaleynikele" in terms of money almost to 70% in three years occurred against the background of a two-fold increase in the price of nickel on the world market with 5 thousand dollars. for the ton in 2000 to 10 thousand dollars. in 2003 g.". It is possible that today's difficult financial position Of "ufaleynikelya" was partially the consequence of the policy of its former owners. "it is possible to assume that the previous owners earned according to the standard diagram through the affilirovannykh foreign traders, leaving there profit, and" they pumped out "enterprise in last 3 years practically without the remainder", said one of the collocutors RBC daily. Regional authorities hope that the problems with the deliveries of coke will be solved with the arrival of new owner, and enterprise will succeed himself in deriving from the crisis state. The interrogated RBC daily experts do not deny the renewal of normal activity "ufaleynikelya"; however, they consider that simple of production can be tightened. "to the owners of enterprise, most likely, it is necessary to search for the alternative suppliers of coke. But now all important producers of coke are already oriented to the concrete users ", said RBC daily the leader of analytical center" national metallurgy "Dmitriy Parthenon. It will be impossible rapidly to solve problem with the deliveries of coke still and because recently an increase in the production of steel led to the practically complete load of all power on the production of coke. Now the volumes of the extraction of coking coal considerably exceed the volumes of its processing. According to the information of analytical center "national metallurgy", in 2003 the level of coal mining for the coking in Russia was 69,5 million t, in this case coke were produced about 32,7 million T. situation it did not change also in this year. During March the enterprises obtained 6,4 million t of coal for the coking, and coke produced 2,9 million t. "free coke can appear on the market not earlier than through half a year - yr (if is preserved the same volume of the consumption of metallurgical combines). Now the majority of enterprises, which generate coke, conduct the reconstruction of their power, and this process is very prolonged and is labor-consuming ", summed up Dmitriy Parthenon. Division of companies Yevgeny Gavrilyuk, 14.05.2004 |
