Ukrainian steel imports in five months up by 123% YoY

According to the data released by metal trading enterprise Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company (UGMK), in the first five months of 2010 Ukraine imports of rolled steel products increased by 122.7% YoY amounting to about 502,900 tons.

In May Ukraine increased its imports of rolled steel products by 16.4% compared to April and by 74% compared to May 2009.

In January to May 2010 imports of steel products in Ukraine were as follows

Product	January-May 2009, t	January-May 2010, t	Change, %
Rebar	39,540	8,376	-78.8
Beam	3,288	4,032	22.6
Wire rod	2,439	6,057	148.4
Round bar	20,784	47,249	127.3
HR sheet/coil	26,697	122,528	359
Galvanized steel	23,547	54,606	131.9
CR sheet/coil	26,356	34,755	31.9
Round billet	63,337	166,709	163.2
Pipe	15,794	19,168	21.4
Angle	1,163	2,521	116.8
Channel	1,556	1,394	-10.4
Other	1,322	35,471	2,583
Total	225,822	502,866	122.7

In January to May 2010, one third of overall rolled steel imports to Ukraine were accounted for by round billets, the share of which increased from 28% in the same period last year to 33.2%. In addition, during the period in question the share of HR sheet/coils went up from 11.8% to 24.4% while the share of galvanized steel increased from 10.9% to 11.3%.
UGMK noted that these increases were 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 total volume of steel imports which dropped from 7% to 3.8% and from 11.7% to 6.9% respectively.
The main suppliers of round billets to Ukraine in January to May this year were Oskol Metallurgical Plant, a subsidiary of Metalloinvest, (Russia) and Byelorussian Iron and Steel Works, the shares of which amounted to 70.7% and 20.8% respectively of total supplies. About 84.4% of total imports of round billets were supplied to Interpipe pipemaking subsidiaries.
Ukrainian main importers of HR sheet/coils in the first five months of 2010 were Russian steelmakers Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works and Severstal, the respective shares of which amounted to 81.4% and 8.6% of total deliveries.
UGMK said during the period in question, Ukraine main importers of rolled steel products were the pipe sector which increased its share of overall steel imports into the country to 45.3% from 33.9% for January to May 2009 and the machine building sector, with its share of overall imports amounting to 22.1% compared to 16.8% YoY. Meanwhile, the local metal trade sector saw a decrease in its share of steel imports to 14% down from 33.4% in the first five months of 2009. (SteelOrbis)
Much more about metal of Ukraine, Russia and other CIS-countries at http://metalukraine2010.blogspot.com/