Thanks to the operation of the maritime corridor the metal industry this year will improve its manufacture compared with 2023. But the growth will be tiny, president of the Ukrainian Association of Metallurgists and Miners Oleksander Kalenkov has said.
“This year has shown some improvement at our enterprises. I think that we will reach 7.2-7.3 million tons of steel in 2024. Last year, we produced 6.2 million tons,” he said.
He noted that the improvement in the manufacturing indexes was linked first of all to the operation of the maritime corridor, which allowed returning to metal exports at the end of last year, which were suspended with the Russian invasion.
“Our industry is export-oriented. We export more than 80% of metal products and over 50% of iron ore raw materials. And most of exports – around 80% – went by sea. Thus, with the help of the maritime corridor we were able to slightly improve our manufacture. But it is incomparable with the pre-war levels,” Kalenkov said.
In 2008, Ukraine produced almost 42 million tons of steel. In 2013, before the start of the war, the output was 32 million tons.
“In early 2022, the industry was dealt a devastating blow. And that year we produced 6 million tons, while in the first two months the Mariupol enterprises were still working,” he added. (Ukrainian metal)
