Ukraine production falls by a third amid war

Ukraine’s steel companies reduced production in January-March due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian association of secondary metals, UAVtormet.

Output amounted to 3.65 million tonnes, down by 31,3% on-year, Kallanish notes. In March alone, only Metinvest subsidiary Kametstal produced steel in pre-war volumes, while other metallurgical enterprises stopped or idled production.

Kametstal, formerly DMK, produced in the first 15 days of March 104,000 tonnes of steel, 158,500t of sinter, 96,000t of pig iron and 30,000t of rolled products (see Kallanish passim). In February, it produced 286,800t of sinter, 180,400t of steel, 168,100t of pig iron and 70,200t of rolled products. Kametstal has also managed to establish logistics product shipments.

Metinvest said earlier that Ukraine has lost around 30-40% of its pre-war steelmaking capacity due to the Russian invasion. Its idled Azovstal and Ilyich Steelworks plants, in the besieged city of Mariupol, remain under the control of the Ukrainian army.

In March, the Ukrainian ferrous scrap market actually stopped, UAVtormet says. The only company that bought scrap, again, was Kametstal, which was supplied with about 41,500t. At the same time, deliveries were carried out mainly by rail.

In general, in the first quarter of 2022, almost 530,000t of scrap metal were shipped to Ukrainian steelmakers, down by 36.6% on-year, the association notes.

In January-March, total exports of ferrous metals from Ukraine amounted to about 3.17mt, down 35.6% and worth $3 billion. In December 2021, Ukraine’s parliament decided to increase the duty on the export of ferrous scrap to €180/tonne ($196).

Before the war, it was expected that Ukrainian steelmakers will consume about 3.84mt of ferrous scrap in 2022 (see Kallanish passim).

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria