According to the preliminary data, in the first three months of 2009 Ukraine registered a 33 percent decline year on year in its finished steel product output to 6.206 million mt and a 38 percent decrease in its crude steel output to 6.820 million mt.
In January-March, Ukraine saw a 44 percent decrease in its steel pipe production to 330,000 metric tons and a 35 percent reduction in its pig iron production to 5.912 million metric tons. On the other hand, the country's production of metallurgical coke went down by 26 percent year on year to 4.023 million mt during the first three months of 2009.
In its iron ore segment, in the first quarter of 2009 Ukraine produced 13.944 million metric tons of iron ore and 11.304 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate - down 30 and 29 percent respectively compared to Q1 2008.
During the period in question, scrap supplies to the Ukrainian steelmakers went down by 46 percent year on year to 892,000 mt.