Ukraine reduced coke production by 9.1% in January–May

The reason is lower demand among steelmaking companies

In January–May 2020, Ukrainian coke companies decreased production of blast-furnace coke by 9.1% to 4.020 million tons compared to the same period of the previous year, according to Interfax-Ukraine with reference to Ukrkoks association of coke companies.

805 thousand tons of coke were produced in May.

In particular, the following companies reduced coke production in the first five months of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019:

• Avdiyivka Coke Plant — by 18.2% to 1.24 million tons (257 thousand tons produced in May);
• Azovstal — by 3.3% to 560 thousand tons (108 thousand tons);
• Dniprokoks — by 21.2% to 182 thousand tons (32 thousand tons);
• Kharkiv Coke Plant — by 73.3% to 4 thousand tons (0 thousand tons);
• ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih — by 9.1% to 1.1 million tons (223 thousand tons).

In January–April, three Ukrainian companies increased coke production:

• Dniprovskyi Coke Plant— by 10% to 250 thousand tons (50 thousand tons produced in April);
• Zaporizhzhia Coke Plant — by 3% to 418 thousand tons (87 thousand tons);
• Yuzhkoks — by 12.7% to 267 thousand tons (50 thousand tons).

Coke plants have sufficient coal.

“The situation is not changing. There’s an underperformance compared to the previous year. It’s not easy to make any forecast yet. This coke production trend is likely to persist in the future,” says Anatoliy Starovoit, Ukrkoks CEO.

In 2019, Ukrainian coke plants cut production of blast-furnace coke with 6% moisture content by 7.1% against 2018, down to 10.059 million tons.