Ukraine ups semis exports to EU

The share of semi-finished products- slabs and billets- in overall Ukrainian steel exports to the European Union has risen, said the Director General of Ukrainian Association of Ferrous Metallurgy Enterprises (UkrMet) Mr. Dmitry Belokurov. According to the data presented by Mr. Belokurov, for the first nine months of 2006 alone the share of slabs in Ukrainian steel exports to the EU rose to 15 percent from 12 percent in 2005, while that of billets increased to 29 percent from 27 percent during the same period. However, the share of flat rolled in the country's overall steel exports to the EU fell to 31 percent in the January-September 2006 period from 38 percent in 2005.