Ukrainian steelmakers ramped up production of rolled products by 14% in May

Production of steel and pig iron went up as well

In May 2021, Ukraine’s steelmaking companies ramped up production of rolled products by 14.1% to 1.63 million tons against May 2020, according to the updated statistics of Ukrmetallurgprom.

Specifically, in May Ukrainian companies produced:

• 3 million tons of sinter ore (10.9% up from May 2020);
• 859 thousand tons of coke (+6.7%);
• 1.83 million tons of pig iron (+9.1%);
• 1.85 million tons of steel (+12.9%);
• 100 thousand tons of pipes and tubes (+100%).

Production of rolled products in January–May increased by 8% to 8.02 million tons against the same period of 2020.

“Importantly, under the most favorable conditions, production volumes do not exceed 1.85 million tons per month. This figure can be assumed to be the industry’s ceiling. With the current dynamics, we’ll reach the end of 2021 with the results that we forecasted at the start of the year, i.e. 21.5–21.8 million tons,” according to GMK Center analysts.

In 5M Ukrainian companies produced:

• 14.03 million tons of sinter ore (+7.8% against 5M 2020);
• 4.1 million tons of coke (+2.2%);
• 8.9 million tons of pig iron (+9.1%);
• 9 million tons of steel (+8.3%);
• 390 thousand tons of pipes and tubes (+115.8%).

As of 10 June 2021, the main operating production facilities included: 18 out of 21 blast furnaces, 7 out of 8 open-hearth furnaces, 14 out of 16 BOFs, 5 out of 15 electric-arc furnaces, and 16 out of 17 continuous casting machines.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2020, companies of Ukraine’s mining & metals sector decreased steel production by 1.1% to 20.62 million tons, while production of pig iron increased by 1.8% to 20.42 million tons, and rolled products by 1.2% to 18.43 million tons against 2019.