Steel production in Ukraine expectedly improved in December amid the price increase in the international market, but overall output in 2019 year posted a reduction because of extremely poor conditions in the October-November period.
In December, crude steel production in the country amounted to 1.55 million mt, 18 percent above the November result, according to Ukrmetallurgprom. The uptrend in the international market supported the increase.
In 2019, steel output in Ukraine was 20.82 million mt, down 1.31 percent compared to 2018. Finished steel production declined as well in 2019, down 1.13 percent year on year to 18.16 million mt. At the same time, the pig iron output decrease was slightly bigger, with a drop of 2.47 percent year on year to 20.05 million mt.
Steel production in Ukraine will improve further in January as the market conditions are still favourable. Dniprovsky Integrated Iron and Steel Works (DMK), one of the key producers and exporters of square billets in Ukraine, restarted operations at its blast furnace No. 12 in late December. The facility was idled in September 2019 due to the sharp drop in prices.