KYIV. Dec 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The most important industrial sectors for the Ukrainian economy are metal, engineering and light industry, Derzhzovnishinform state enterprise said in a press release based on the study of strategic raw material resources for Ukraine’s development until 2020 conducted by Derzhzovnishinform and the Association for Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency.
The leader is the metal sector, as the country is among top ten largest steel smelters in the world.
Engineering is second thanks to the potential of engineering enterprises and light industry is third.
Coal and gas are among strategically important exhaustible resources in Ukraine (82% of experts polled).
According to the document, before the hostilities Ukraine was among largest anthracite producers in the world. In January-September 2015 Ukraine produced 23.62 million tonnes of steam coal, which is 40% down year-over-year, and exports fell to almost a zero.
Some 86% of respondents said that among exhaustible resources scrap metal is the main strategic resource.
Exports of scrap metal are permanently growing: almost 1.175 million tonnes of scrap metal was exported in January-November 2015, while in 2014 – 1.03 million tonnes was exported. Imports of scrap metals are falling: in 2013 232,700 tonnes was exported, while in January-October 2015 – around 2,000 tonnes.
