In January this year, Ukrainian steelmaker Zaporizhstal's finished steel product output increased by 2.1 percent year on year to 298,100 mt, its pig iron production moved up by 15.1 percent to 326,500 mt, while its crude steel production increased by 2.7 percent year on year to 346,000 mt, according to the company's preliminary results.
According to Zaporizhstal, despite the production growth, the collapse of the transport infrastructure in Donbass, complications in raw material supply from that region, the price crash in the international markets, as well as the 30 percent increase in logistic freight rates for railway transport - all these factors negatively affected the company’s performance.