Evraz Group, one of Russia's largest steel and mining companies, is keen to become a major producer of vanadium products, widely used in making high-strength steels, alloys and chemical products.
It said steel output rose 17.6%, to 12 million tons, while cast iron production was up 13.8%, at 9.7 million tons.
International ratings agency Fitch Ratings said earlier Tuesday it upgraded Evraz Group's issuer default ratings to BB (from BB-).
On August 10, Evraz Group, which produced nearly 14 million metric tons of steel in 2005, and had revenues of $6.5 billion, sold 41% of its stock to U.K.-based Millhouse Capital, which manages Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's assets. The company did not disclose the price, but experts valued the deal at $2.7-3 billion.
