Steel production in Ukraine fell by 29 percent since early 2015

Steel production in Ukraine, hit by the military conflict in the east of the country, fell 29 percent to 3.46 million tonnes in the first two months of 2015 compared to the same period last year, according to the Metallurgprom steelmaking association.

The merger does not substantiate the fall in detail, but some large Ukrainian metallurgical plants located in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions have suspended production due to hostilities between separatists and government forces.

Metallurgprom reported that pig iron production fell 31 percent to 3.15 million tonnes, while rolled steel production fell 30 percent to 3.0 million tonnes. In 2014, metallurgical plants in Ukraine reduced their annual steel production by 17 percent to 27.16 million tons.
Now the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant, Donetsk Metal Rolling Plant (DMPZ), Donetsk Electrometallurgical Plant (DEMZ) continue to stop production activities, and since February, work at Donetskstal and at the Yenakievsky Metallurgical Plant has been completely stopped due to the destruction of transport infrastructure.

Nevertheless, Metallurgprom predicts that in March 2015 Ukrainian steelmaking enterprises are planning to produce 1.9 million tons of steel. At the same time, the production of pig iron will amount to about 1.7 million tons, and the production of rolled steel will reach 1.7 million tons. The current production rate is around 65 percent compared to May 2014, when the highest production in the industry was achieved.