Ukrainian steelmakers increase production of rolled products by 30% m-o-m in Mar'23

Ukrainian steelmakers increased rolled products production by 30% m-o-m in March 2023. However, the same dropped by 67.9% in the same period a year ago.

Pig iron smelting rose to 466,000 tonne (t), up 32% m-o-m against February 2023. Steel production for the month was 527,000 t, up 24.3% from the month ago period.

During the first quarter of 2023, steelmakers produced 1.02 mnt of rolled steel, registering a "sharp fall" of around 67.9% as against the same period of last year. Steel production was down by 66.2% y-o-y in 3 months to 1.23 million tonne (mnt) and pig iron by 65.7% y-o-y to 1.2 mnt.

Production volumes were affected by logistics problems, unfavourable situations in the global steel market and the destruction being inflicted by hostilities upon two of Ukraine's largest steelmakers, Azovstal, IIyich Iron and SteelWorks of Mariupol.

Post-Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, Europe became the only market for Ukrainian products. Moreover, the cost of shipments of rolled-steel products almost doubled as delivery by rail, which became more difficult and expensive. In addition, uncertainties impacted steel demand.

Ukrainian iron and steel enterprises operated with a low-capacity utilisation and even some of them were temporarily shut down. Also, from October 2022, the Russian Federation shelled country's state electricity infrastructure, causing further disruptions to energy supplies to the steel industry.

~GMK Center