According to the preliminary data, in the first seven months of 2008 Ukraine increased its finished steel products output by 5.3 percent and its crude steel output by 4.2 percent year on year to 22.938 million metric tons and 25.855 million metric tons respectively.
During the given period, Ukraine saw a 7.9 percent decrease in its steel pipe production to 1.489 million metric tons and a 0.4 percent increase in its ferroalloy production to 1.744 million metric tons.
In its iron ore segment, in January-July 2008 Ukraine produced 47.69 million metric tons of iron ore - up 6.9 percent compared to January-July 2007.