According to the preliminary data issued by the Ukrainian Association of Metal Traders, in the first ten months of 2008 the country decreased its steel consumption by nine percent year on year to 7.251 million metric tons. Meanwhile, during the period in question, import of steel products to Ukraine increased by 26.6 percent year on year to 1.707 million mt.
Accordingly, during January-October 2008, the Ukrainian pipe making companies reduced purchases of domestic and imported steel products by 10.7 percent to 1.957 million mt, the construction companies cut purchases by 29.6 percent to 212,854 mt, railway producers - by 77.9 percent to 68,384 mt, and hardware producers - by 13.7 percent to 522,364 mt, all compared with the same period of the last year. Furthermore, Ukrainian steel sellers, including the smaller ones, reduced their purchases by 1.1 percent to 2.412 million mt, mining and metallurgical companies cut their purchases by 0.6 percent to 630,424 mt, while machine building companies decreased purchases by 1.2 percent to 1.336 million mt, all compared with the data for January-October 2007.