According to the preliminary data, in the first two months of 2009 Ukraine registered a 34 percent decline year on year in its finished steel product output to 4.016 million mt and a 38 percent decrease in its crude steel output to 4.440 million mt.
In January-February, Ukraine saw a 42 percent decrease in its steel pipe production to 216,000 metric tons and a 35 percent reduction in its pig iron production to 3.838 million metric tons. On the other hand, the country's production of metallurgical coke went down by 28 percent year on year to 2.532 million mt during the first two months of 2009.
In its iron ore segment, in January-February 2009 Ukraine produced 8.813 million metric tons of iron ore and 7.070 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate - both down 32 percent compared to February 2008.
During the period in question, scrap supplies to the Ukrainian steelmakers went down by 39 percent year on year to 575,000 mt.