According to the data issued by the Ukrainian Association of Metal Traders, in the first nine months of 2009 the country registered a 45.4 percent decrease in rolled steel consumption year on year to approximately 3.695 million metric tons. Meanwhile, during the period in question, imports of rolled products to Ukraine went down by 70.7 percent year on year to 463,904 metric tons.
Accordingly, in January-September this year Ukrainian pipemaking companies reduced purchases of domestic and imported rolled products by 35.9 percent to about 1.149 million mt, local construction companies cut purchases by 70.8 percent to 58,269 mt, hardware producers decreased their purchases by 36.6 percent to 312,700 mt, while railway companies increased their purchases by 1.3 percent to 67,462 mt, all compared with the same period of the previous year. Furthermore, Ukrainian steel traders, including the smaller companies, reduced their purchases of domestic and imported rolled steel products by 57.1 percent to 981,617 mt, machine building companies decreased purchases by 68 percent to 389,615 mt, while mining and metallurgical companies increased their purchases by 6.1 percent to 644,339 mt, all compared with the data for January-September 2008.
In January-September 2009, traders's share in the total rolled steel consumption volume in the Ukrainian domestic market amounted to 27 percent, the share of pipemaking companies amounted to 31 percent, the share of machine building companies reached 11 percent, the share of mining and metallurgical companies amounted to 17 percent, the share of hardware producers was eight percent, the share of construction companies stood at two percent, the share of railway companies was two percent, while the share of other companies also amounted to two percent.