Ukrainian ferroalloy figures for January 2005

Ukrainian ferroalloy figures for January 2005

Ukraine boosted ferroalloy production in January 2005 by 120.4% year-on-year to reach 141.7 thousand tons. The figure also indicates a 19% increase from December 2004. Average monthly output of 2004 showed almost a 5% decrease from 2003; however, the strong January 2005 figures signal that Ukraine's ferroalloys are ready to feed the global steel market. The raw material price increases and the high global demand for steel are the main reasons behind Ukraine's increased production. Furthermore, new investments undertaken in order to increase the productivity also helped boost output. In fact, 2004's lower level of production can be attributed in part to temporary halts in production as companies retooled their operations to increase productivity. The January 2005 output figure is 1.5% higher than the average monthly figure of 2004. Manganese alloys remained the most produced ferroalloys in the country. Ukraine's manganese alloys production increased 12.2% year-on-year and reached 125.3 thousand tons to capture an 88.4% share in overall ferroalloys production. Exports of Ukrainian ferroalloys also increased in January 2005. Ukraine exported 2.9 thousand tons of ferromanganese silicon in January 2005, a 21.6% increase from January 2004. Russia, Turkey, Romania, South Korea, and Kazakhstan continued to be the main buyers of Ukrainian ferroalloys. On the other hand, Ukraine imported 5.0 thousand tons of ferroalloys in January 2005 at a total cost of $15.2 million for these imports. Kazakhstan (37.2%), Russia (22.8%), and China (5.4%) ranked as the major ferroalloy exporters to Ukraine.