Ukrainian rolled steel imports increase by 142% in Q1

According to the data released by the metal trading enterprise Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company, in the Q1 of 2010 Ukraine imports of rolled steel products amounted to about 284,300 tons, up by 142.2% YoY.
In March this year Ukraine increased its imports of rolled steel products by 12.5% compared to February, and by 85.9% YoY.

In Q1 2010, imports of steel products in Ukraine were as follows:

Product	Q1 2009, t	Q1 2010, t	Change, %
Rebar	24,797	6,433	-74.1
Beam	2,000	2,156	7.8
Wire rod	1,522	3,537	132.4
Round bars	9,457	28,501	201.4
HR sheet/coil	16,529	78,561	375.3
Galvanized steel	8,908	28,448	219.4
CR sheet/coil	12,643	16,546	30.9
Round billet	28,889	90,901	214.7
Pipes	10,383	11,729	13
Angle	347	629	81.3
Channel	904	592	-34.5
Other	1,021	16,262	1493.1
Total	117,399	284,297	142.2

In Q1 2010, the biggest share in overall steel imports to Ukraine was held by round billets, which increased from 24.6% YoY to 32%. In addition, during the period in question the share of HR sheet/coils went up from 14.1% to 27.6%, the share of round bars rose from 10% to 12% while the share of galvanized steel increased from 10% to 12.4%. UGMK noted that these increases are due to the significant drop in rebar imports as well as due to the YoY decreases in the shares of pipes and CR sheet/coils in Ukraine's total volume of steel imports, which dropped from 8.8% to 4.1% and from 10.8% to 5.8% respectively.
The main suppliers of round billets to Ukraine in Q1 this year were еру Oskol Metallurgical Plant (Russia), a subsidiary of Metalloinvest, and the Byelorussian Iron and Steel Works, the shares of which amounted to 72.4% and 20.9% respectively of total supplies. About 84.4% of total imports of round billets were supplied to Interpipe pipemaking subsidiaries. Meanwhile, Ukraine main importers of HR sheet/coils in Q1 were Russian steelmakers Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works and Severstal, the respective shares of which amounted to 83.3% and 9.1% of total deliveries.
UGMK said in Q1 2010, Ukraine main importers of rolled steel products were the pipe sector, which increased its share of overall steel imports into the country to 47.7% from 32.2% for Q1 2009, and the machine-building sector, which saw its share of overall imports rise to 19.6% compared to 16.6% in the same period last year. Meanwhile, the local metal trade sector saw a decrease in its share of steel imports to 15.5%, down from 36.5% in the first three months of 2009. (SteelOrbis)