In Jan-May, steel production in Ukraine declined by 2% y/y to 13.8mn tonnes, the Metallurgprom association has announced. The production of steel pipes went down by 26% y/y to 714,000 tonnes in the reporting period. In May, steel production went up by 0.8% to 2.8mn tonnes, while steel pipes production decreased by 14.1% to 146,000 tonnes.

In Q1, steel output in Ukraine grew by 0.4% to 8.4mn tonnes. In 2012, steel production in Ukraine fell by 6.6% y/y to 32.3mn tonnes (10th place in the world steel ranking). Ukraine ranks 9th in the world steel producers rating, just ahead of Brazil. Metal production, in particular iron and steel industry, is the dominant heavy industry in Ukraine accounting for 5% to 7% of the GDP and a significant part of foreign currency earnings. The industry peaked at 42.8mn tonnes in 2007 and was severely affected by the financial crisis of 2007–2010.

In 2013, Metalurhprom metallurgical enterprises association expects the production of steel to reach 34.4mn tonnes. Besides, under preliminary data, in 2013, Ukrainian enterprises will produce 29.9mn tonnes of pig iron and 31mn tonnes of rolled steel.