Ukrainian steelmakers increased rolled products production by 30% m-o-m in February 2023. Production of rolled products dropped by 73.6% in February y-o-y.
Pig iron smelting fell by 8.1% m-o-m as compared with 353,000 tonne (t) in January 2023. Steel production for the month was 424,000 t, up 49.3% from the month ago period.
During the first two months of 2023, steelmakers produced 591,000 t of rolled steel, registering a sharp fall of around 79.9% as against the same period of last year. Steel production was down by 79.3% on the year to 708,000 t and pig iron by 77.6% y-o-y to 737,000 t.
Production volumes were affected by logistics problems, the unfavorable situations in the global steel market and the destruction being inflicted by the hostilities upon two of Ukraine’s largest steelmakers, Azovstal and IIyich Iron and SteelWorks of Mariupol.
Post-Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, Europe became the only market for Ukrainian products. Moreover, the cost of shipments of rolled-steel products almost doubled as delivery by rail, which became more difficult and expensive. In addition, the uncertainties impacted steel demand.
Ukrainian iron and steel enterprises operated with a low-capacity utilisation and even some of them were temporarily shut down. Also, from October 2022, the Russian Federation shelled the country’s state electricity infrastructure, causing further disruptions to energy supplies to the steel industry.
~GMK Center
Leave a Reply