Belon announced operating results for the first quarter of 2016. For the quarter, the company reported volumes of coking coal production decreased by 20.9% quarter on quarter, to 808,000 tonnes. This was mainly due to a high level of stocks at the company's warehouses which were accumulated in the period of scheduled maintenance of blast furnace No 9 and lower pig iron production.

Coking coal concentrate production remained flat quarter on quarter. The decline in coking coal production was compensated by: a decrease in mined coal stocks; an increase in the coal quality due to commissioning of new faces in 2015; and an increase in coal purchases from third parties to meet MMK requirements to quality of the final concentrate grades.