In March 2014 Ukrainian metal companies decreased gas consumption

In March metal companies consumed 240 million cubic meters of gas, down by 4.4%, or 11 million cubic meters, MoM.

In October Ukrainian metal companies increased gas consumption

In October Ukrainian metal companies increased gas consumption by 7.2% (by 16 million cubic meters), to 239 million cubic meters, as compared to September.

Ukrainian steel sector should meet European environmental standards

Ukrainian president Mr. Viktor Yanukovych during his visit to Zaporizhzhia region said that modernization of the mining and metallurgical complex should proceed in line with European environmental standards to make it possible to solve the environmental problems of the regions where MMC companies operate, and to start launching the relevant environmental programs.

Mr. Yanukovych during the ceremony of commissioning of the first sintering machine at the iron and steel works Zaporizhstal said that "It is of a great importance for us now to upgrade the mining and metallurgical complex while putting our steel plants in line with the European environmental standards."

He said that “The facility is the first of the six planned for launch at Zaporizhstal. This will make it possible to reduce annual emissions by 10%.”

In August 2012 Zaporizhstal began full scale modernization of sintering machine No1 with installment of high tech gas cleaning equipment. Commissioning of the sintering machine complex and electrical filter will allow the company to reduce the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere by 10%, thus reducing the company's human impacts on the environment of the region. (SteelGuru)

Ukrainian steelmakers cut gas consumption due to new coal injection facilities

Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises have continued the upgrading of blast furnaces by installing coal injection facilities amid gas price hikes and tough competition on the domestic and foreign markets in 2012.
Mr. Anatoliy Starovoit, director general of Dniepropetrovsk-based Ukrkoks association of coking and chemical enterprises, said that in 2013 smelters plan to produce 13.5 million tons of pig iron with coal injection technology out of the year's target of 30 million tons. However, Starovoit did not specify the share of pig iron produced in 2012 with coal injection technology.
In his words, coal injection facilities are being used or will be shortly used at 13 blast furnaces.
Mr. Starovoit said that "Coal injection facilities are in operation or being commissioned into industrial operation at Zaporizhstal (two blast furnaces), Donetsk Iron and Steel Works (two blast furnaces), Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works (four blast furnaces) and Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works”.
The Dnipropetrovsk-based Metallurgprom association of metallurgical enterprises said that as of December 1st 2012, 27 out of 36 blast furnaces (75%) were in operation, 19 out of 21 converters (90%), 8 out of 16 open hearth furnaces (50%), and 5 out of 15 electric furnaces (33%).
Thus, over a third installed blast furnaces employ coal injection technology, which is about half of those in operation.
Mr. Starovoit said that "Ukraine produces about 300,000 tons of such coal, while a total of 1.8 million tons is needed. Ukraine will buy about 10 to 10.5 million tons of coking coal or high-quality concentrate abroad for coal injection facilities and coke production this year”.
He said that consumption and imports of coking coal would not increase because of a reduction in its consumption of coke by blast furnaces.
He said that "The peers in Russia note that high prices of gas have made the upgrading of our blast furnaces more active, while they do not work in that direction, which may become a problem for them under market-oriented economic conditions with the WTO membership”.
He also said that blast furnaces at ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih and Dneprovsky Iron and Steel Works named after F. Dzerzhinsky would be transferred to pulverized coal fuel in the near-term outlook.
He concluded that "Economic feasibility will facilitate the introduction of coal injection in all the blast furnaces in Ukraine, which will boost the competitiveness of pig iron production”. (SteelGuru)

Ukraine to make more steel in 2013

Steelmaking production in Ukraine in 2013 will grow by 3% compared to the expected performance of this year up to 33.7 million tons.
Director of the Ukrpromvneshekspertiza Centre Mr. Volodymyr Vlasyuk said in 2012 domestic steel plants made 32.7 million tons of steel. He said that the following year steelmakers would be favored by the fall in world prices for iron ore and coking coal.
The analyst said that “However the demand for finished products will not significantly increase. In 2013 Ukraine can expect a slight increase in exports and domestic sales. The annual average sales price for rolled metal in foreign and domestic markets will decline by 5-7%. However under falling prices the prime cost profitability will remain unchanged at 3% level. Accordingly the Ukrainian economy will operate in conditions of reduced earnings from rolled metal products exports”.
The experts believe that the domestic market may grow by 300 thousand tons due to repairs and renovation of existing facilities, in particular of the Ukrzaliznytsia railway company metallurgical enterprises housing construction of terminals in ports etc. (SteelGuru)

EU market more important for Ukrainian steel exports

Ukrpromvneshekspertyza director Volodymyr Vlasiuk said that EU countries' share of exports of Ukrainian metal products was 28%, while the share of the CIS states was 16%, 70% of this going to the Russian market.
Mr. Vlasiuk said: "The EU sales market is more important to us then the Russian market, there is a need to diversify the sales market via other countries”.
It is expected that in 2012 Ukraine will export 22.6 million tons of rolled steel, while in the pre-crisis period rolled steel exports stood at 28.4 million tons. Supplies to the EU market this year will reach 4.7 million tons of rolled steel compared to 6.6 million tons in 2011, and deliveries to the Asian markets will come to 2.3 million tons compared to 3.2 million tons in 2011. (SteelGuru)

Ukrainian metallurgical companies extended net pretax loss in Q1 2012

Ukrainian metallurgical companies have increased total net pretax loss in January to March 2012 3.6 times YoY to UAH 5.3 billion.
Companies COGS per UAH 1 of production output has increased from UAH 1.025 in Q1 2011 to UAH 1.124 in Q1 2012, up by 9.7%.
Mr. Vasiliy Kharakhulah, CEO of Metallurgprom, said sector performance had primarily deteriorated in terms of energy costs and railway tariffs growth. (SteelGuru)

Ukraine puts restrictions on exports of iron and steel scrap

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has introduced restrictions on exports of iron and steel scrap of 900,000 tons.
The Cabinet resolution No 388 was signed on May 3.
It is explained that the restriction is introduced on the basis of Article 9 and Article 12 of the law on scrap metal.
It reads as “The cabinet approves iron and steel scrap export volumes for 2012 at 900,000 tons. Customs clearance of scrap metal export is performed on the basis of a paper copy of a registration card for a foreign economic contract (agreement) on export of scrap metal or its copy in electronic form”. (SteelGuru)

Ukraine’s demand for rolled metal products fell by 3% YoY in Q1 2012

Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company, a major metals trader, reported that demand for rolled metal products in Ukraine fell by 2.9% YoY in the first quarter of 2012 to 1.693 million tons.
Mr. Vitaliy Kliuchnik, the company deputy CEO for sales, said "We estimate the Ukrainian market for rolled metal products amounted to 1.693 million tons in the first three months of 2012, which is 2.9% less than in the same period of 2011. The secondary market increased by 2% compared to the first three months of 2011 and amounted to 436,200 tons. In the second quarter we expect an increase in demand from the construction segment and growth of the metals trading market of up to 3%."
Mr. Mladen Peikovich, company CEO, said the trader increased sales of rolled metal products by 58% to 93,900 tons in the first quarter of 2012. (SteelGuru)

Ukraine issues production results for the first three months of 2012

According to the data issued by Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, in the first three months of the current year Ukraine registered a 0.3% decrease YoY in its finished steel product output to 7.103 million tons, a 5.5% decrease in its crude steel output to 8.190 million tons and a 0.1% decline in its pig iron production to 7.120 million tons.
The country production of metallurgical coke in the given period went down by 1.5% YoY to 4.811 million tons. In January to March Ukraine produced 16.451 million tons of iron ore concentrate and 5.596 million tons of iron ore pellets, up by 2.9% YoY and 5.8% YoY.
In March alone Ukraine produced 2.475 million tons of finished steel products, up by 15.3%, 2.906 million tons of crude steel, up by 17.9%, 2.473 million tons of pig iron, up by 13.7% and 1.655 million tons of metallurgical coke, up by 10.9% all on MoM basis. (SteelOrbis)

Ukrainian coke and steel producers battling proposal to restrict coal imports

Ukraine's coke and steel producers are battling a recent proposal from the energy and coal industry ministry to restrict imports of coal.
The ministry has recently asked Prime Minister Mr. Nikolai Azarov to restrict imports of coal amid concerns there are 400,000 tons of domestically produced thermal coal accumulated in stocks. (Ukrainian Journal)

Ukraine to try to boost domestic steel demand as external demand lags

Mr. Nikolai Azarov, Prime Minister of Ukraine, said that Ukraine would seek to stimulate domestic demand for its steel, mostly in housing and infrastructure projects, as weaker external demand had been affecting many of its companies.
The government provided massive tax breaks to steelmakers between late 2008 and through the end of 2009 after steel exports had collapsed late 2008 due to economic slowdown caused by international credit crunch. (Ukrainian Journal)

Steel product deliveries in Ukraine up by 15% YoY in January to November 2011

In the first 11 months of 2011 deliveries of steel products to the Ukrainian domestic market increased by 15% YoY to 6.623 million tons.
In November 2011 steel product deliveries in Ukraine decreased by 2.3% compared to November 2010 and went down by 5.7% compared to October 2011 to 574,000 tons.
In the January to November period of last year, the share of imports in Ukraine's domestic rolled steel product market was 21.5% compared to 23% YoY. (SteelOrbis)

Ukrainian steel production in 2011 up by 6% YoY

According to the preliminary data, in 2011 Ukraine registered an 8.5% increase YoY in its finished steel product output to 30.373 million tons, a 6% increase in its crude steel output to 34.689 million tons and a 6% rise in its pig iron production to 28.879 million tons.
In the given period Ukraine saw a 26% increase in its steel pipe production to 2.213 million tons.
The country production of metallurgical coke went up by 5% YoY to 19.582 million tons, while hardware production decreased by 3% to 264,000 tons.
Delivery of scrap to metallurgical companies in Ukraine increase by 7% YoY to 6.745 million tons.
In 2011, Ukraine produced 79.418 million tons of iron ore and 65.807 million tons of iron ore concentrate both up by 3% compared to 2010.
In December 2011 Ukraine produced 2.480 million tons of finished steel products, down by 2.4% MoM, 2.759 million tons of crude steel, down by 4.1% MoM, 2.374 million tons of pig iron, down by 1.9% MoM, 163,200 tons of steel pipes, down by 11% MoM, and 1.628 million tons of metallurgical coke, up 1.6% MoM. Delivery of scrap to metallurgical companies in December 2011 decreased by 10.7% MoM to 468,000 tons. (SteelOrbis)

Ukrainian metallurgical companies see sales increase 31% in January to November 2011

In January to November 2011 Ukrainian metallurgical companies increased their product sales by 31.2% YoY, to UAH 224.2 billion.
In 2010 Ukrainian metallurgical companies saw their sales increase by 45.3% YoY, to UAH 189.4 billion. (SteelOrbis)

Ukrainian metal companies report November 2011 6% gas consumption fall

Ukrainian metals companies cut gas consumption by 5.8%, or 24 million cubic meters, in November compared to October to 388 million cubic meters.
Average daily natural gas consumption by metals companies in November came to 12.9 million cubic meters. (Ukrainian Journal)

Ukraine steelmakers reduce losses by 30%

According to Mr. Vasyl Kharakhulakh, director general of the Metallurgprom association of Ukraine's metallurgical enterprises, Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises finished January-October 2011 with a negative financial result from ordinary activities before tax of 1.9 billion UAH while during the same period last year it was 2.7 billion UAH.
He said that the profitability of metallurgical enterprises for 10 months of 2010 was 1.5%. He noted that the cost of steel production in the current year had grown and sometimes "does not catch up with the sales price level" due to falling prices of steel products in foreign markets.
He added that in January to November 2011 Ukrainian metallurgical mills increased the production of pig iron by 6% over the same period in 2010 to 26.504 million tons and steel by 7% to 31.928 million tons. (Nrcu.gov.ua)

Ukraine rises to 9th position in world steel making in August

Ukraine in August boosted steel production by 5.3% compared to August 2010, to 2.8 million tons, placing it ninth on the ranking of the 64 main steel producers compiled by the World Steel Association.
In July Ukraine ranked tenth, having seen a 10.3% rise in steel output from July 2010, to 2.730 million tons.
Ukraine pushed Turkey down by one spot, which produced 2.799 million tons, up by 7.8%.
In the first eight months of 2011 Ukraine produced 23.313 million tons, up by 6.9%, while Turkey produced 22.061 million tons, up by 19.2% YoY. (Interfax)

Ukrainian metallurgical companies post loss of UAH 847 million in January to July

According to the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, in the January to July period of the current year the Ukrainian metallurgical industry posted an overall loss of UAH 847.5 million.
In particular, 56.8% of Ukrainian metallurgical companies recorded a combined profit of UAH 5.652 billion, while 43.2% of companies saw a combined loss of UAH 6.499 billion in the given period. (SteelOrbis)

Ukraine may be less sensitive to steel price drop

The investment bank Renaissance Capital said, Ukraine might not suffer to the extent it did when metals prices plunged during the global financial crisis three years ago.
Analysts Ms. Anastasia Golovach and Mr. Ivan Tchakarov said, “Assuming the worst case scenario of declining commodity prices, which are crucial for Ukraine, the country may be less sensitive to global cooling than in 2008-2009. Despite the panic in the global financial markets, steel, iron ore and coking coal prices have remained relatively stable.”
According to Renaissance Capital, “Metals and mining had helped drive Ukraine’s economy before the crisis. Recovery in the former Soviet republic is largely the result of increased real wages and a higher propensity to consume.”
The analysts wrote that, “We think salaries will continue to grow, particularly as the country is expecting parliamentary elections in October 2012”. (Bloomberg)