10 December 2023

The volume of production of pig iron in the reporting month was 541,000 tons, while steel output made 546,000 tons.

According to preliminary information from the Ukrmetallurgprom association, in November Ukrainian steel mills smelted 546,000 tons of steel, which, although formally, is the lowest figure since June of this year, the difference with previous months is not so big - 571,000 tons were smelted in October, 558 thousand tons in September 2023.

In November 2022, only 313,000 tons of steel was produced in Ukraine (a year ago, Russian shelling of the Ukrainian energy infrastructure significantly affected the operations of the industry).

Pig iron output in the reporting month was 541,000 tons compared to 511,000 tons in October.

In total, in the first ten months of 2023, Ukrainian plants produced 5.4 million tons of pig iron (-11% y-o-y, due to the high level of production before the full-scale invasion - in January and February 2022), and 5.707 million tons of steel (-7%).

According to our expectations, if there are no significant problems with blackouts due to Russian missile attacks on the energy system of Ukraine in December, the total steel production this year may be pretty close to or exceed last year's figure (6.27 million tons).

Due to the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine has lost the metallurgical plants in Mariupol (40% of steel production in Ukraine in 2021), and due to the blockade of exports through Ukrainian Black Sea ports, other large Ukrainian plants have not been operating at full capacity.

Kametstal, which belongs to the Metinvest group, works at 60-65% of total capacity, Zaporizhstal - at approximately 50%, and the largest Ukrainian metallurgical plant - Arcelor Mittal Kryvyi Rih - at no more than 20-25% of capacity.

With the opening of exports through deep-sea Ukrainian ports (and in case operations through the "temporary corridor" will continue), we can expect an increase in exports of steel products.

The list of the largest Ukrainian steel producers for the first half of 2023 is given at the link.