MMK Trading House's director, Grigory Shchurov, shared the company's results for 2022 and plans for 2023 at the 16th All-Russian Conference "Regional Steel Trading in Russia".

Despite the difficulties caused by the economic sanctions against Russia and the reduced demand and lower prices for steel products, MMK Trading House succeeded in adapting to the new market conditions, increasing its sales by 3.2% and its market share from 9.6% to 11% in 2022.

Among growth factors, Grigory Shchurov mentioned the geographic expansion of operations, the improvement of services and the increase in sales on the company's electronic trading platform. In 2022, MMK Trading House opened three new separate divisions in Orenburg, Kurgan and Astrakhan, as well as four retail warehouses in Magnitogorsk, Ufa, Sibay and Moscow. The company has plans to open 14 more new warehouses.

MMK's corporate marketplace almost doubled its sales in 2022, from 16,800 tonnes to 30,500 tonnes. The number of registered customers exceeded five thousand. The next stage in the development of the marketing platform involves integration with other online stores, the development of a mobile application, an option for customers to take out a loan or a bank guarantee, as well as new payment methods (quick payment system, QR codes, etc.). In addition to its own marketplace, the company started selling hardware products on the OZON marketplace.

"MMK Trading House is working on projects aimed at the development of services: we want to give our customers the opportunity to buy everything in one place. The company continues to diversify its product line and expand capacities for the processing of rolled metal products and manufacturing of metalware at its own facilities. A transshipment project has already been implemented to optimize MMK Trading House's transportation and warehousing logistics, as well as to ensure secure delivery to the end customer. A set of measures aimed at reducing the time of loading metal into trucks is also being implemented. Yet another promising project is the organization of logistics centers," Grigory Shchurov noted.

The company's goals for 2023 include, according to the company's manager, the opening of new retail and warehouse facilities which will increase sales this year by 10% compared to 2022, and by 35% by 2025 compared to 2023. These goals cannot be achieved without expanding the company's regional presence and increasing the number of customers. MMK Trading House plans to open two new divisions in 2023 and to reach 42 of them by 2025.

MMK's efforts to develop retail sales last year were recognized in prominent competitions. In January 2023, MMK's electronic trading platform won the prestigious IT contest "Project of the Year" organized by Global CIO in the category of "Best Industry Solution" in the metallurgy/continuous production/mining group. Additionally, MMK Trading House was also recognized as the best federal sales network among steel companies in the competition of the Russian Union of Metal Suppliers. The company's steel depots and steel service centers were also lauded.

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OAO MMK - Magnitogorskiy Metallurgicheskiy Kombinat published this content on 22 February 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 February 2023 05:14:00 UTC.