SteelOrbis - According to the data released by the Russian Federation's Federal State Statistics Service, in the first quarter of this year Russia produced 13.6 million metric tons of finished steel products - up 21.6 percent, 2.1 million metric tons of steel pipes - up 46.5 percent, and 12 million mt of pig iron - up 31.4 percent, all compared to Q1 2009.

In addition, in the first quarter of this year the country registered a 19.9 percent increase in its coal mining output and a 26.8 percent rise in its iron ore concentrate output year on year. The respective figures in metric tons were 83 million and 22.4 million. Meanwhile, Russia's metallurgical coke output in January-March this year went up by 36 percent year on year to 6.9 million metric tons.