According to the information released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Industrial Policy, in the first quarter of 2007 the country increased its finished steel products output by 12 percent and its crude steel output by 13 percent year on year to 9.02 million metric tons and 10.6 million metric tons respectively. Meanwhile, during the period in question Ukraine's pig iron production rose 15 percent to 8.8 million metric tons, compared to the corresponding period of 2006.
During the given period, Ukraine saw a 22 percent increase in its steel pipe production to 680,000 metric tons and a seven percent increase in its coke production to 4.9 million metric tons.
In its iron ore segment, in the January-March 2007 period Ukraine produced 18.8 million metric tons of iron ore - up nine percent, 14.7 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate - up 12 percent, 5.5 million metric tons of pellets- up 25 percent, and 12.3 million metric tons of agglomerate - up six percent, compared to the first three months of 2006.