According to preliminary data, in the January-March period of this year Ukraine registered an 11.5 percent increase year on year in its finished steel product output to about 7.7 million mt and a seven percent rise in its crude steel output to 8.634 million mt.
In the first three months of 2011, Ukraine saw a 2.2 percent increase in its pig iron production to 7.13 million mt and a 6.4 percent rise in its coke output to 4.875 million mt, both compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, in January-March this year, Ukraine's production of steel pipes went up by 58 percent year on year to 550,800 mt, while its output of hardware increased by 8.2 percent year on year to 66,800 mt.
In its iron ore segment, in the three months in question Ukraine mined 19.24 million mt of iron ore - up 3.4 percent year on year. Its iron ore concentrate production increased by 4.7 percent to 15.98 million mt, its pellet production went down by 2.6 percent to 5.303 million mt, while its agglomerate production rose by two percent to 10.154 million mt, all compared to January-March 2010.