Ukraine issues Jan-Feb production results

According to the information released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Industrial Policy, in the first two months of 2007 the country increased its finished steel products and crude steel output by 13 percent each to 5.9 million metric tons and 6.9 million metric tons respectively. Meanwhile, in the same two months Ukraine's pig iron production rose 16 percent to 5.7 million metric tons, compared to the corresponding period of 2006. During the given period, Ukraine saw a 35 percent increase in its steel pipe production to 436,000 metric tons and a 6 percent increase in its coke production to 3.1 million metric tons. In its iron ore segment, in the January-February 2007 period Ukraine produced 12.2 million metric tons of iron ore – up nine percent, 9.5 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate – up 12 percent, 3.6 million metric tons of pellets- up 27 percent, and 8.08 million metric tons of agglomerate - up eight percent, compared to the first two months of 2006. However, the mining of coking coal in Ukraine during the period in question decreased by 2.5 percent year on year to 12.7 million metric tons.