KYIV. July 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (Dnipropetrovsk region) is looking for new markets due to a fall in sales in Ukraine related to instable operation of metal companies caused by hostilities in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone.
Board Chairman and Director General of Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant Volodymyr Kutsyn said in an interview with the Elektrometallurh newspaper published by the Ukrainian Association of Ferroalloy and Other Electrometallurgical Products Manufacturers on Thursday that the Ukrainian market depends on hostilities.
“In June due to difficulties in the operations of railways almost all metal companies were idle. This resulted in steel production decline by 15% that month. The restricted Ukrainian market forces use to look for new foreign markets. There are these markets: we work with the Far East, continue cooperating with South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Philippines. These are new markets. We develop relations with traditional partners – Turkey, the United States, Egypt, Arab Emirates and the whole of Europe,” Kutsyn said.
He said that the exports share today is around 70%. Earlier the share of silicon manganese made by the enterprise reached 20% of the global market, while today is less than 18%. The plant supplies its products to more than 60 countries, almost all the state that smelt steel (around 70 countries on the list of the World Steel Association).
“As for prospects, we have many ideas, but they require large investment. We sought to install ferrofluid cogeneration station. We had to burn it, but this is wrong from the point of energy saving and environment friendliness. This project could cost $70-80 million. It is still an idea,” he said.
He said that the electricity tariff increase decreases the opportunities for modernization and stable operation, as ferroalloy production is energy intensive: the share of electricity of the cost production is around 30%.
Kutsyn said that the plant sent UAH 1.126 billion of taxes and duties in 2015, including UAH 92.51 million to the local budget.
