In April this year,
Ukraine's total crude steel output saw a drop of 0.6 percent month on month to 2.976 million mt; meanwhile, the Ukrainian steel mills increased their average daily crude steel output by six percent month on month to 99,200 mt - the Ukrainian association of metal producers Metallurgprom has stated.
ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih was the main contributor to last month's growth, upping its daily steel output volume by 16 percent month on month, while Metinvest's Azovstal and Yenakievo Iron and Steel Works showed more moderate six percent gains. Meanwhile, Alchevsk and
Zaporizhstal failed to meet their targeted 10-25 percent month-on-month
production increases, and ended the month with decreases. The drops came mainly due to lower iron ore purchases by the plants after Metinvest introduced a 75 percent price hike for iron ore deliveries, analysts from BG Capital said.
"Global steel markets remained somewhat volatile in April, and the three to five percent fall in steel prices over the last 10 days of the month may signal a coming correction, both in prices and output. Having said that, the completion of previously placed and pre-paid orders from March and April will allow average daily steel output to remain flat month on month in May (a total of 3.0 million mt to be produced), in our view, but we do not rule out a possible drop in monthly steel output in June," BG Capital stated in its report.
In January-April 2010,
ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih produced about 1.78 million mt of finished steel - up 27 percent, 2.04 million mt of crude steel - up 39 percent, 1.78 million mt of pig iron - up 35.5 percent, 3.205 million mt of agglomerate - up 32.4 percent, 868,000 mt of coke - up 8.9 percent, 2.8 million mt of iron ore concentrate - up 45.7 percent, and 409,000 mt of iron ore - down 9.1 percent, all compared to the same period of 2009.
During the first four months of the current year, Azovstal increased its crude steel output by 60.2 percent to about 1.88 million mt, saw its pig iron
production rise by 61.5 percent to 1.6 million mt and its finished steel
production increase by 60.2 percent to 1.75 million mt, all compared to the corresponding period of 2009. Meanwhile, Azovstal's metallurgical coke output registered an increase of 11.8 percent year on year to 679,800 mt.
In January-April this year,
Ilyich increased its finished steel product output by 53 percent and its pipe
production by 2.92 times year on year, to 1.322 million mt and 27,500 mt respectively.
Ilyich's crude steel
production went up by 54.6 percent, its pig iron output rose by 51.6 percent and its agglomerate
production increased by 54.3 percent, year on year. The respective figures in metric tons were 1.876 million, 1.566 million and 3.65 million.
During the period in question, Dneprovsky Iron and Steel Works named after F. Dzerzhinsky saw its crude steel
production drop by five percent year on year to 1.01 million mt and saw a fall of 4.2 percent year on year in its pig iron
production to 1.03 million mt. The plant also saw its output of finished steel decline by 6.8 percent to 1.026 million mt, but saw its agglomerate
production rise by 1.55 percent to 1.584 million mt, both compared to January-April 2009.
In the first four months of 2010,
Zaporizhstal's finished steel
production decreased by 1.85 percent and its crude steel
production fell by 2.2 percent year on year, to 880,000 mt and 1.06 million mt respectively.
Zaporizhstal's agglomerate
production went down by 2.5 percent, while its pig iron
production increased by 0.2 percent year on year. The respective figures in metric tons were 1.56 million and 902,000.
During the period in question, Alchevsk saw its pig iron
production fall by 4.5 percent and its finished steel
production decline by 3.2 percent, while its crude steel
production went up by 0.2 percent and its agglomerate
production increased by 11.6 percent year on year. The respective figures in metric tons were 1.04 million, 1.1 million, 1.2 million and 1.578 million.
In January-April this year, Yenakievo Iron and Steel Works' pig iron
production rose by 2.2 percent to 722,400 mt, and its finished steel output climbed up by 4.6 percent to 807,500 mt, both compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, the plant's crude steel
production went up by 1.9 percent year on year to 831,700 mt, but its agglomerate
production decreased by 15 percent year on year to 596,000 mt.