Production results of Ukraine’s Electrostal, a second-tier billet exporter in the country, weakened significantly last year due to unfavourable market conditions and tough competition.
In 2019, Ukraine’s EAF-based Electrostal decreased its square billet production rather sharply due to challenging market conditions. The output totalled only 83,000 mt, 3.5 times lower year on year.
The facility was idled from January to March, mainly due to increased scrap prices which resulted in high costs for the mill and uncompetitive pricing for square billet compared to the integrated producers from the CIS. After March, Electrostal restarted production but was utilizing only one third of its capacity. In October, the mill once again stopped production, while the output in the last quarter of the year was minor, SteelOrbis has learned.