9 May 2023

Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises maintain positive dynamics of iron and steel production.

According to preliminary information of the Ukrmetalurgprom association, in April, Ukrainian steel mills produced 574,000 tons of steel, which was 47,000 tons more than in March. Compared to April 2022, steel production has more than doubled.

The production of pig iron is also growing - in the reporting month it amounted to about 547 thousand tons (in March - 466 thousand tons).

In total, in the first four months of 2023, Ukrainian plants smelted 1.75 million tons of pig iron (-54% compared to last year, due to the high level of production before the full-scale invasion - in January and February 2022), as well as 1.81 million tons of steel (-54%).

Despite the growth in recent months, steel production has only reached about one-third of pre-invasion levels. 40% of production was lost at the expense of steel mills in Mariupol, the main problem of the rest of the enterprises remains the blocked Ukrainian ports. Despite the gradual development of new logistics routes, they are still too slow and expensive compared to exporting via seaports.

One of the reasons for the recovery in production (besides improvements in the energy supply situation and, to some extent, domestic demand and export logistics), in recent months, has been the increase in global steel prices during the first quarter of 2023. Since March, world prices started to decrease, which we currently see as one of the main risks for Ukrainian producers (who lose to most competitors due to high logistics costs).