MECHEL ANNOUNCES Q1 2009 OPERATIONAL RESULTS

Moscow, Russia – April 27, 2009 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, today announces Q1 2009 operational
results.

Vladimir Polin, senior vice-president of Mechel OAO, commented on the first
quarter 2009 operational results: “Negative trends caused by global economic
crisis have affected Mechel’s operational results in Q1 2009. Unfavorable market
conditions and, first of all, a drop in demand in construction and machinery
industries caused reduction of output in our steel division and in all the other
segments following our production chain.
At our coal mining operations we changed mining plans in favor of increased
production of steam coal as demand for this product was stable. This allowed us
to more than double the output of steam coal concentrate.
In our steel segment, pig iron production was reduced due to the overhaul of the
blast furnace No. 4 for capital repair in Q4 2008. The furnace was commissioned
in the beginning of April, 2009 and we expect the output to rich previous
levels.
We continue implementing our strategy of increasing the output of high-margin
downstream products, that is why we reduced the share of low-marginable products
(billets) in our product portfolio. Overall reduction of steel and rolled
products output is in line with market trends.
In our ferroalloys segment there was a decline in demand and, consequently, in
output of nickel. At the same time, Bratsk Ferroalloys Plant and Tikhvin
Ferroalloy Smelting Plant operations fully matched the load of previous periods.
At the same time in the first quarter of 2009 we increased production of
ferrocilicon.
Our sales company, Mechel Service, continued active work with steel products end
customers in different regions of Russia and abroad. Its efforts allowed us to
secure a minimum decrease in our steelmaking capacities load and to retain our
market position notwithstanding gross reduction in output throughout steel
industry and overall economy downturn.
We continue monitoring our markets and will make prompt responses to changes in
demand ensuring stable operations of the company in current economic
environment.”
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Mechel OAO
Ilya Zhitomirsky
Phone: + 7 495 221 88 88
ilya.zhitomirsky@mechel.com

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Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies.  Its business includes four
segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy, and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, hardware,
heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and
internationally.
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Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that
these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may
differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to
the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and
identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned
“Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our
Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among
others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and
synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the
ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of
developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment,
volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial
risk management and the impact of general business and global economic
conditions.