According to the preliminary data issued by the Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine, in the first nine months of 2009 Ukraine registered a 27 percent decline year on year in its finished steel product output to 19.31 million mt and a 32 percent decrease in its crude steel output to 21.68 million mt.
In January-September this year, Ukraine saw a 37 percent decrease in its steel pipe production to 1.2 million metric tons and a 29 percent reduction in its pig iron production to 18.75 million metric tons. On the other hand, during the period in question the country's production of coke went down by 21 percent year on year to 12.78 million mt.
In its iron ore segment, in January-September of the current year Ukraine produced 46.95 million metric tons of iron ore and 39.16 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate - down 22 percent and 19 percent respectively compared to the same period last year. In addition, during the period in question, the country's agglomerate production amounted to 25.66 million mt - down 29 percent, while its pellet production totaled 14.73 million mt - down 15 percent, both compared to January-September 2008.
During the first nine months of 2009, scrap deliveries to Ukrainian mills decreased by 39 percent year on year to 3.17 million metric tons.
Market operators consider that the nine-month results of the Ukrainian mining and metallurgical sector have not demonstrated the expected recovery. Moreover, some of the local producers have started to speak about a possible second wave of crisis in October-November. However, analysts have expressed the view that steel production will hardly fall as strongly as at the end of last year; however, they also state that the revival of demand is expected to be observed only toward the end of 2010.
According to the preliminary data, in September this year the steel output in Ukraine decreased by 10 percent to 2.4 million mt, due to the weakening of demand in foreign markets and also due to the lack of raw materials.
Ukrainian steelmakers have started to announce decreases in orders for October caused by reduced demand from the Middle Eastern countries and the reduction of exports to the Asian markets, where competition with Chinese steel exporters has increased. In addition, some of the Ukrainian steelmakers have had to abandon scheduled increases of their production capacities.