According to preliminary data issued by the Ukrainian Association of Ore-dressing Enterprises (Ukrrudprom), in the first quarter of this year the Ukrainian steelmakers increased their imports of iron ore by 2.2 times to 878,400 mt, while the Ukrainian mining companies raised their iron ore exports by 52.9 percent to 7.547 million mt, both compared to the same period last year.
Particularly, in Q1 2010, Ukraine's exports of iron ore concentrate increased by 85.4 percent year on year to 3.247 million mt, its exports of pellets went up by 13.3 percent to 2.538 million mt, while its exports of sintered ore climbed by 40.1 percent to 1.322 million mt. In addition, in January-March this year, Ukraine also shipped 439,100 mt of agglomerate, of which there were no exports during the same period last year.
In March this year, Ukrainian mining companies exported 2.522 million of iron ore - up eight percent month on month, including 1.142 million mt of iron ore concentrate, 907,400 mt of pellets, 355,200 mt of sintered ore and 118,200 mt of agglomerate.
On the other hand, during the first quarter of the current year, Ukraine imported 620,600 mt of iron ore concentrate - up by 2.36 times year on year, 209,900 mt of sintered ore - up 73.6 percent year on year, and 47,900 mt of pellets, of which there were no imports during the same period last year. However, Ukrainian steelmakers did not import any agglomerate in the first three months of this year.
Ukraine's main importers of iron ore in Q1 this year were Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol (697,600 mt of iron ore - up 2.2 times year on year), Dneprovsky Iron and Steel Works named after F. Dzerzhinsky (140,800 mt of iron ore - up 3.1 times year on year), Dnepropetrovsk Iron and Steel Works named after Petrovsky (20,000 mt of pellets), and Zaporizhstal (20,000 mt of pellets).
In March, Ukraine imported 270,900 mt of iron ore, including 192,900 mt of iron ore concentrate, 70,000 mt of sintered ore, and 8,000 mt of pellets.
In addition, Ukrrudprom notes that in Q1 2010 Ukraine produced about 18 million mt of iron ore - down 0.3 million compared to Q4 2009, due to the severe climatic conditions this winter. Meanwhile, the country's total sales of iron ore in Q1 amounted to 16.08 million mt, of which 52.7 percent were shipped to the domestic Ukrainian market, while 47.3 percent were exported.
As of April 1 this year, about two million mt of unsold iron ore products were accumulated at warehouses of the Ukrainian mining companies, of which about 800,000 were products of Sukhaya Balka, an iron ore subsidiary of Russia's Evraz Group, which could not be shipped due to a rail transportation conflict with Krivoy Rog Iron Ore Industrial Complex (KRZhK).