Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported, citing Mr. Vasily Kharakhulakh, general director of the Ukrainian association of metal producers Metallurgprom, as saying that Ukrainian steel producers were currently facing difficulties in selling their steel products and having problems securing coke and iron ore, which forced them to cut their outputs and might even oblige them to halt operations of units.
Mr. Kharakhulakh said, despite cuts in steel product outputs, Ukrainian steelmakers faces shortages of coke. He said that “As of today, provisions of coke are incomplete, the shortage amounts to 67,000 tons, adding that imports of coking coal from Russia have also dropped due to the accident at the Raspadskaya mine.”
Accordingly, domestic steel producers are interested in purchases of iron ore with high iron content, whereas the Ukrainian raw materials are of poorer quality. Mr. Kharakhulakh said “The disagreement as regards iron ore price estimates is the main cause of interruptions of supplies, mainly at Zaporizhstal and the Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works.”
He said that “In general from the beginning of the current year the sector has been operating at a loss, but on the results of the current month the situation will get worse.”
According to the official, the lack of working capital at Ukraine steelmaking companies amounts to UAH 18 billion. A most difficult situation due to lack of working capital is currently seen at Zaporizhstal, Ilyich, ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih, Dnepropetrovsky Iron and Steel Works named after Petrovsky, Dneprospetsstal and others. (Interfax-Ukraine)