According to the data issued by the Ukrainian Association of Metal Traders, in the first eight months of 2009 the country registered a 47.6 percent decrease in rolled steel consumption year on year to approximately 3,220,381 metric tons. Meanwhile, during the period in question, imports of rolled products to Ukraine went down by 71.1 percent year on year to 403,431 metric tons.
Accordingly, in January-August this year Ukrainian pipemaking companies reduced purchases of domestic and imported rolled products by 34.7 percent to about 1.033 million mt, local construction companies cut purchases by 70 percent to 55,829 mt, railway companies - by 20.1 percent to 52,302 mt, and hardware producers - by 41.5 percent to 268,273 mt, all compared with the same period of the previous year. Furthermore, Ukrainian steel traders, including the smaller companies, reduced their purchases of domestic and imported rolled steel products by 59.9 percent to 837,175 mt, mining and metallurgical companies cut their purchases by 3.5 percent to 548,069 mt, while machine building companies decreased purchases by 68.6 percent to 346,662 mt, all compared with the data for January-August 2008.
In January-August 2009, traders's share in the total rolled steel consumption volume in the Ukrainian domestic market amounted to 26 percent, the share of pipemaking companies amounted to 32 percent, the share of machine building companies reached 11 percent, the share of mining and metallurgical companies amounted to 17 percent, the share of hardware producers was eight percent, the share of construction companies stood at two percent, the share of railway companies was two percent, while the share of other companies amounted to two percent.