Ukraine's Industrial Policy Ministry disclosed that the country's finished steel
production fell 2 percent year on year to 5.18 million metric tons in the first two months of 2006.
Crude steel
production fell 3 percent year on year to 6.09 million metric tons during the same period while
pig iron production decreased 4 percent year on year to 4.92 million metric tons.
The Ministry attributes the decreases in
production to adverse weather conditions and restricted gas supplies.
On the other hand, steel
pipe production soared 5 percent year on year to 322,000 metric tons during the same period.
Ukraine produced 8.46 million metric tons of
iron ore concentrate in the first two months, down 1 percent from a year earlier. Sinter
production also fell 4 percent to 7.5 million metric tons while pellet
production decreased 4 percent to 2.79 million metric tons.