Ukraine’s metals sector decreased steel production by 15.8% in November

This is the lowest monthly steel production since 2012, says a GMK Center analyst

According to the statistics presented by Ukrmetallurgprom, in November, Ukrainian steelmaking companies decreased steel production by 15.8% to 1.31 million tons, compared to the same period of the last year.

“This is the lowest monthly steel production since 2012,” says Andrii Tarasenko, GMK Center Chief Analyst.

According to Ukrmetallurgprom’s forecast, the target production of steel in November was 1.7 million tons. With the launch of Dniprovskyi Iron and Steel Works (DMK), the figure would have to grow up to 1.8 million tons.

“With such result in November, reaching the last year’s output of 21.1 million tons would be quite an achievement. Over the year, Ukrainian mining and steelmaking companies showed rather good trends. The situation however deteriorated because of a decline in prices in September–October, which affected supplies in November. As a result, the negative effect is making itself felt only now. There should be an improvement next month,” explains Mr Tarasenko.

In November, Ukrainian companies cut production of pig iron by 12.4% to 1.39 million tons, and rolled products by 17.4% to 1.18 million tons, compared to the previous year.

In January–November, Ukrainian mining and steelmaking companies increased steel production by 0.3% to 19.28 million tons, compared to the same period of the previous year.  At the same time, over the 11 months of this year, production of pig iron fell by 1.4% to 18.5 million tons, and rolled products by 0.7% to 16.7 million tons.