Zaporizhstal produced 101,000 tons of rolled steel in October 2022

In October 2022, Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works reduced the production of rolled steel by 62.2% compared to the same month of 2021 – to 101.3 thousand tons. The enterprise’s press release reports about it.

The volume of pig iron production in October decreased by 54.6% compared to October 2021 – to 157,000 tons. Steel output for the month fell by 56.4% – to 121,800 tons.

In comparison with September 2022, in October steel production at the plant increased by 14%, pig iron – by 5.6%, and rolled products – by 13.4%.

For January-October 2022, the output of products at Zaporizhstal decreased by 55.7% year-on-year – to 4.231 million tons. In particular, the following products were produced:

• pig iron – 1.724 million tons (-52.3% to January-October 2021);
• steel – 1.335 million tons (-58.5%);
• rolled steel – 1.172 million tons (-57%).

“The decrease in the level of production compared to the same period last year is associated with a shortage of raw materials and logistical problems caused by full-scale military operations on the territory of Ukraine. In addition, due to massive missile attacks on energy infrastructure facilities and, as a result, the resulting power deficit in the energy system, the plant reduced production, thus reducing electricity consumption,” the company explains.

As GMK Center reported earlier, from the beginning of March 2022, Zaporizhstal was transferred to the hot preservation mode. On March 25, the plant partially resumed the operation of cold rolling shop units – training mills 1700-1 and 1700-2, as well as slitting unit №5. At the beginning of April, Zaporizhstal launched two of the four blast furnaces №3 and №4, and later restarted pig iron smelting.

After that, the plant announced its intention to start the blast furnace №3 in August. After the launch of the third blast furnace, the plant’s capacity utilization was to reach 75%. But at the end of June, Zaporizhstal was considering the option of reduction of production due to significant problems with logistics and the inability to ship products to consumers in Europe.

In 2021 Zaporizhstal increased the production of pig iron by 0.1% y-o-y to 4.5 million tons. Steel production was down by 0.1% to 3.8 million tons, and rolled steel production remained at last year’s level – 3.2 million tons.

In January-February 2022, the plant decreased production of rolled steel by 8.7% compared to the same period in 2021 – to 502.4 thousand tons.