Dniprovsky Integrated Iron and Steel Works (DMK), one of the key steel producing assets in Ukraine, has announced that its production decreased in 2019, partly as some of its equipment was temporarily idled due to unfavourable market conditions.
DMK produced 2,221 million mt of crude steel and 1,991 million mt of pig iron in 2019, down eight and 19.1 percent down year on year respectively, according to the preliminary data. In mid-September last year, the company decided to work with only one blast furnace, leaving the other two idled due to low demand for steel products globally and overall challenging market conditions. At the end of November, DMK restarted the second blast furnace due to a revival in business and at the end of December resumed operations at the third BF, as SteelOrbis reported earlier.
The restarting of steelmaking operations naturally supported production results towards the end of the year. In December, DMK’s crude steel and pig iron outputs increased by 74 percent to 169,000 mt and 143,000 mt, respectively. The company’s finished steel production increased in December by 40 percent to 160,000 mt.