In 2013 local rolled metal consumption in Ukraine would decrease by 6%, to 7.8 million tons YoY, according to Vladimir Vlasyuk, CEO of the state enterprise “Ukrpromvneshexpertiza” (UPE).
He says, decrease in demand is connected to the increase in output fall in the main steel-consuming sectors – construction (by 16%) and machine-building (by 13%).
UPE expects steel smelting in 2013 to be on the level of 33.3 million tons.
21% of the total output would go to the local market, while 79% would be exported.
Vlasyuk says increase in steel output can only be reached with local consumption development. On the other hand Ukrainian metal companies are working at 69.9% of their capacities.
“That’s lower than in other countries”, says Vlasyuk and adds this means Ukrainian metal companies are loosing to foreign companies. (Ukrainian metal)