The Ukrainian steelmaker Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol (Ilyich) has forecasted that the Ukrainian domestic steel market will stabilize during the current month due to the expected decrease in the volume of imports.
In its official release, Ilyich states that for the last six months the Ukrainian domestic steel market was soft as the level of offers exceeded the level of demand due to heavy imports of steel products from Kazakhstan, Russia and China. However, in the current month some improvements in the Ukrainian domestic producers' situation can be seen since the Russian producers have already announced a price increase for September delivery to the Ukrainian market. Producers from Kazakhstan and China are expected to follow Russia's example.
Consequently, a decrease in steel imports from the above-mentioned countries is thought likely. As a result, the domestic producers will be able to redistribute the increase in available shares of domestic sales among themselves.