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Russian mining and steel group Metalloinvest continued to see a shift in iron ore pellet sales away from its home market to Europe in the second quarter, as external shipments of pellets rose 7.2% year on year to 3.7 million mt, company figures showed Friday.

Metalloinvest's second-quarter external iron ore concentrates and sinter volumes rose 4.9% to 2.89 million mt, while external HBI/DRI shipments were stable at 650,000 mt, according to an operations report.

Of the iron ore products, 62% of volumes were distributed to Russian eternal customers, down from a 66% share in Q2 2015, while recovering from Q1 2016's 57% share.

Exports to Europe rose to a 26% share, from 20% in Q1 2016, Metalloinvest said. Market demand for pellets was strong, it said. Asia took a 6% share in Q2, down from 11% in Q2 2015 and 17% share in Q1 2016.

The company produced 6.33 million mt of iron ore pellets in Q2, while Q2 2015 saw 5.9 million mt, with 6 million mt in Q1 2016.

"Production growth was obtained due to increased output at pellet plants comprising an achievement of designed capacity at Pellet Plant #3," it said.