Production at embattled iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo has surged 203 per cent across its operations through the first quarter of 2024.
A note from the company’s executive chair Lucio Genovese issued to the London Stock Exchange today said that over two million tonnes of iron ore pellets and concentrate were produced in the three months to the end of March – the company’s best showing since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Production of iron pellets was 1.8m tonnes in the first quarter of this year. By contrast, in the first quarter of 2021 before the outbreak of war, Ferrexpo produced 2.8m tonnes.
Exports also re-started at Ukrainian ports, allowing for the resumption of trade between Middle East and North Africa and Asia.
The company added that its workforce remains gutted by Ukrainian conscription, with 669 Ferrexpo employees currently serving, the highest since the outset of the conflict.
Genovese added that the re-integration of veterans is a “complex issue” and we that the company was working on a “comprehensive programme of support that includes both physical and psychological rehabilitation,” for veterans.
“It is pleasing that despite facing so many challenges, we are able to report solid production and sales numbers for the quarter,” Genovese said.
“As long as we believe the level of risk is acceptable, taking into account the ongoing war in Ukraine, we will continue to use all the export capacity available to ensure that we are supporting the interests of all stakeholders.”
However Ferrexpo has been making headlines for reasons other than its rehabilitation programmes.
In a stock exchange notice last week, the group revealed that due to two ongoing legal cases against it, it had been forced to set aside $131m (£105m).
As such, it reported a loss for the 2023 full-year period of $85m (£68m).
The company’s Ukrainian division, Ferrexpo Poltava Mining, is facing an extended litigation battle in its home country over the actions of its principal shareholder, billionaire Konstantyin Zhevago.
Zhevago is the founder of the now-insolvent Finance and Credit Bank, which allegedly owed creditors hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid loans.
He has been under arrest in France for the last two years and efforts to extradite him to face trial have so far proved unsuccessful.
The chaos has taken a toll on Ferrexpo’s share price, which is down 74 per cent in the last five years.