According to the preliminary data, in the first eight months of the current year Ukraine registered a 9.8 percent increase year on year in its finished steel product output to 19 million mt and a 10.8 percent rise in its crude steel output to 21.363 million mt.
In January-August this year, Ukraine saw an 8.7 percent increase in its pig iron production to 18.047 million mt and a 7.3 percent growth in its coke output to 12.209 million mt, both compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, during the period in question the country's production of steel pipes went down by 2.2 percent year on year to 1.052 million mt, while its output of hardware increased by about 20 percent year on year to 173,300 mt.
In its iron ore segment, in January-August this year Ukraine mined 51.541 million mt of iron ore - up 26.5 percent year on year. Its iron ore concentrate production increased by 25.6 percent to 42.647 million mt, its agglomerate production went up by 13.6 percent to 26.012 million mt, while its pellet production rose by 16.3 percent to 14.933 million mt, all compared to the data for January-August 2009.