According to the preliminary data, in the first month of 2009 Ukraine registered a 35 percent decline year on year in its finished steel product output to two million mt and a 42 percent decrease in its crude steel output to 2.123 million mt.
During the given period, Ukraine saw a 48 percent decrease in its steel pipe production to 84,000 metric tons and a 38 percent reduction in its pig iron production to 1.867 million metric tons. On the other hand, the country's production of metallurgical coke went down by 30 percent year on year to 1.275 million mt during the first month of 2009.
In its iron ore segment, in January 2009, Ukraine produced 4.217 million metric tons of iron ore and 3.371 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate - both down 37 percent compared to January 2008.
During the period in question, scrap supplies to the Ukrainian steelmakers went down by 60 percent year on year to 163,000 mt.