Ukraine has a number of major metal works using electrometallurgical method to produce steel. Two of them are Interpipe Steel and Electrostal.
The latter stopped on December 22, 2015, and the management is not considering putting it back into operation. In December 2015 the company produced 9.9 thousand tons of square billets, down by 41% MoM and by 75% YoY. The company will be idle all February. Its main consumer is the Donetsk Iron and Steel Works, situated in the Ukraine-uncontrolled territory. And it’s also idle due to the absence of orders.
Interpipe Steel was able to increase steel output in January by 20% YoY, to 48 thousand tons, but it is still down by 17% MoM.
The main reason for the output decrease at both works is the problem with ferrous scrap supplying. In 2015 scrap deficiency for local consumption totaled 855 thousand tons. (Ukrainian metal)