Ukraine's Ministry of Industrial Policy has revised its forecast for the country's steel output in 2009 in a downtrend direction, from the earlier-predicted 30 million mt to 27-28 million mt, which represents a decrease of 24.5-27.2 percent or 9-10 million mt compared to the 2008 output.
Ukrainian Association of Metal Traders president Andrey Fedoseev has confirmed the sharp worsening of solvent demand in the local Ukrainian market, and also stated that prices in the market are high compared to the world markets. Meanwhile, Ukraine's deputy industrial policy minister Serhiy Hryschenko stated that currently Ukrainian steelmakers are working at 60-65 percent of their production capacities.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, director of Ukrainian state enterprise Ukrpromzovnishekspertyza, Vladimir Vlasyuk, forecasted in March that in 2009 Ukrainian steel producers would decrease their steel output by 27.1 percent year on year to 27 million mt, due to the decline in exports. Mr. Vlasyuk added that in 2009 the Ukrainian steelmakers are expected to ship 19-19.5 million mt of steel for export - down from 26.8 million mt in 2008, while 8-8.5 million mt will be delivered to the domestic market - up from 6.5 million mt in 2008. In addition, according to Mr. Vlasyuk, in March the Ukrainian mills were operating at 62 percent of their capacities, while in 2009 overall they are expected to operate at an average of 59 percent of their capacities.
In 2008, Ukraine's steel output decreased by 13.4 percent or 5.7 million mt to 37.1 million mt, compared to 2007.