In January-May 2009, consumption in the Ukrainian steel market registered a 50.9 percent decrease year on year to 2.041 million mt, Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company's (UGMK) marketing director Ruslan Mazhinsky has stated at the 8th Conference Forum "Metal-2009: management, production, trade, and consumption."
According to Mr. Mazhinsky, in January-May 2009 the steel products deliveries, excluding pipes, of the Ukrainian steelmakers to the domestic market amounted to 1.831 million mt - down 46.3 percent compared to 3.412 million mt in the same period last year, while imports amounted to 210,000 mt - down 71.9 percent compared to 746,000 mt in January-May 2008.
Specifically, during the first five months of 2009 rebar sales in the Ukrainian domestic market decreased by 67.2 percent to 193,800 mt, beam sales went down by 79 percent to 14,000 mt, wire rod sales dropped by 50.9 percent to 162,500 mt, hot rolled coil sales fell by 45.4 percent to 729,900 mt, cold rolled coil sales decreased by 56.2 percent to 110,200 mt, angle sales went down by 64.9 percent to 54,100 mt, channel sales slid by 65.2 percent to 48,200 mt, and the sales of other rolled products dropped by 43.5 percent to 727,800 mt, all compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, in January-May 2009 Ukraine imported 39,500 mt of rebar - down 8.6 percent, 3,300 mt of beams - down 74.8 percent, 26,500 mt of hot rolled coils - down 93 percent, 26,400 mt of cold rolled coils - down 72 percent, 1,200 mt of angles - down 88.1 percent, 1,600 mt of channels - down 78.4 percent, and 109,100 mt of other rolled products - down 44.5 percent, all compared to January-May 2008. However, Ukraine's imports of wire rod increased by 33.3 percent year on year to 1,500 mt.
From the total volume of steel imports to Ukraine, the share of Russian suppliers in January-May 2009 amounted to 56 percent compared to 60 percent in 2008, the share of Belarusian suppliers amounted to ten percent compared to two percent in 2008, the share of Polish suppliers amounted to six percent compared to three percent in 2008, the share of Moldavian suppliers amounted to five percent compared to two percent in 2008, the share of Kazakh suppliers amounted to four percent compared to three percent in 2008, while the share of Chinese suppliers amounted to four percent compared to five percent in 2008, Mr. Mazhinsky stated.
Mr. Mazhinsky had previously forecast a 17.8 percent decrease year on year in 2009 in the Ukraine's steel smelting volume to 30.5 million mt (in 2008 the volume decreased by 13.3 percent to 37.1 million mt). In addition, Mr. Mazhinsky had also stated that, while in Ukraine the steel consumption per capita in 2008 amounted to 181 kg/year, in 2009 it is expected to amount to 130 kg/year, in 2010 to 199 kg/year, in 2011 to 221 kg/year, while in 2012 it is forecasted to amount to 211 kg/year.