According to the data released by metal trading enterprise Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company, during the first seven months of 2009 Ukraine's imports of steel products registered a decrease of 65 percent year on year to 383,600 mt, mainly due to the deterioration of the country's economic and financial situation, and also due to the instability of the national currency.
Accordingly, during the period in question, the biggest decreases year on year in imports in the Ukrainian steel market were registered by flat steel products; HRC imports dropped by 88.8 percent and CRC imports fell by 71 percent. The next biggest decreases in imports were recorded by structural shapes; imports of angles went down by 83.4 percent, imports of channels decreased by 82.7 percent, and beam imports dropped by 71.8 percent, all compared to the same period last year.
In January-July 2009, the imports of steel products in Ukraine were as follows:
Product | Jan-July 2008 (mt) | Jan-July 2009 (mt) | Change (mt) | Change % |
Rebar | 55,921 | 43,013 | -12,909 | -23.1 |
Beam | 17,116 | 4,822 | -12,294 | -71.8 |
Wire rod | 3,790 | 2,912 | -878 | -23.2 |
Round | 50,924 | 37,405 | -13,520 | -26.5 |
528,072 | 59,346 | -468,725 | -88.8 | |
CRC | 137,726 | 39,928 | -97,798 | -71.0 |
Pipe | 41,468 | 21,220 | -20,248 | -48.8 |
Angle | 14,302 | 2,372 | -11,929 | -83.4 |
Channel | 10,446 | 1,811 | -8,636 | -82.7 |
Other | 235,753 | 170,708 | -65,046 | -27.6 |
Total | 1,095,518 | 383,536 | -711,982 | -65.0 |
In January-July 2009, Ukraine's main importer of steel was the pipe sector, which increased its share of overall steel imports into the country from 27.3 percent to 40.5 percent, meanwhile, the local metal trade sector, saw its share of imports decrease from 34.4 percent to 24.1 percent, according to the report of Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company.