Steel production in Ukraine will decrease in 2015 by another 13 percent to 23.5 million tons

Steel production at Ukrainian metallurgical plants by the end of 2015 will decrease by 13 percent compared to 2014 to 23.5 million tons. This forecast was announced by the industry association "Metallurgprom".

The drop in production in the basic sector of the country's economy will occur due to a stop or interruption in the work of enterprises located in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) announced by Kiev last year.

As indicated in the minutes of the balance sheet meeting of Metallurgprom, the production of general rolled products in Ukraine will decrease by 12 percent, to 21 million tons, pig iron smelting - by 11 percent, to 22 million tons. And this is still an optimistic forecast, the association stressed.

In November, Metallurgprom predicts an increase in steel production by 10.5 percent compared to the expected level of production in October - up to 2.1 million tons, while the output of general rolled products stabilized at 1.8 million tons. The plan for November also provides for an increase in pig iron production by 5.3 percent - up to 2 million tons.

As reported, metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine in January-September 2015 reduced steel production by 20 percent compared to the same period in 2014 - to 17.097 million tons, the production of general rolled products decreased by 21 percent - to 14.957 million tons, pig iron - by 19 percent. up to 15.997 million tons.

According to the association, Donetsk Electrometallurgical Plant (DEMZ) and Donetsk Metal Rolling Plant (DMPZ) are currently not fully operational.

The production of pig iron in Ukraine in 2014 decreased by 15 percent compared to 2013 - to 24.810 million tons, steel - by 17 percent, to 27.161 million tons, rolled products - by 18 percent, to 23.793 million tons.

According to the forecast of the World Steel Association Worldsteel, in 2015 steel consumption in Ukraine will decrease by 27 percent to 3.1 million tons, with an increase of 9 percent in 2016 to 3.4 percent.