Sales results of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih in 2018

In 2018, sales of metal products manufactured by ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih amounted to 4.5 million tonnes. Of these, 65% are finished products (rebar, wire rod and grade), the share of square billets decreased by 2% compared to 2017 - from 29% to 27%, and cast iron increased to 9% (+ 2%).

In 2018, customers from 62 countries of the world purchased the company's products. The main share of sales falls on the countries of the Middle East (33%), North and West Africa (17%), Latin America (9%), Europe (7%). About 22% of the products were sold on the domestic market.

Anastasia Tataruleva, Deputy General Director for Marketing and Sales of PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih:

- 2018 turned out to be one of the most difficult - more and more countries are closing their markets, more and more new production facilities appear, the pressure from the influx of cheap imports is increasing. The increase in imports from Belarus, Moldova, Turkey significantly reduces the share of domestic producers in the Ukrainian market. Accordingly, 80% of production volumes must be realized in foreign markets, but every year the situation in them acquires an increasingly negative trend towards a decrease in demand and an increase in production capacity, aggravated by the more frequent cases of imposing duties on exported products. In March 2018, the President of the United States introduced 25% duties on all imported metal products, which almost completely stopped its deliveries to the United States, which is about 35 million tons of imports per year. Our main competitors from China and Turkey have redirected their product flows to other regions, which further intensified and intensified competition in the markets of Europe, the Middle East, North, West and East Africa. In addition, in July 2018, the European Commission set quotas for 23 categories of steel products, including 11 types of products from Ukraine (imports exceeding the quota are subject to a 25% duty).

Today there are practically no free markets left for trading. More and more countries are protecting their interests, their national producers, so selling our products - such as rebar, wire rod, grade - is a huge challenge. In these conditions, the reduction of the cost of our products is of particular importance to us.

Aggravation of logistics problems in Ukraine associated with an acute shortage of wagons and locomotives, the negative consequences of strikes and conventions at Ukrzaliznitsa and all of the above reasons affected the supply of raw materials and the export of products in 2018.

Despite the large number of difficulties we faced during the year, we coped with all the challenges. We have retained our positions in West Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. We opened the new