Business news from Ukraine

Zaporizhia Ferroalloy Plant (ZFP) in January-October this year increased production by 4.2% compared to the same period last year, to 175,630 tonnes.
As the Ukrainian Association of Producers of Ferroalloys and Other Electrometallurgical Products told Interfax-Ukraine, over ten months of the year, ZFP reduced production of silicon manganese by 31.3%, to 53,280 tonnes, but increased output of ferrosilicon by 41%, to 70,840 tonnes, and ferromanganese – by 18.3%, to 45,260 tonnes.
The enterprise also increased production of metallic manganese by 2.54 times, to 6,250 tonnes.
In October, 16,170 tonnes of ferroalloys were produced, in September – 19,650 tonnes.
At a regular extended meeting with heads of shops and structural divisions of the plant, ZFP Board Chairman Pavlo Kravchenko noted that the night work schedule will provide significant savings in energy costs.
At the same time, he recalled that on July 1 of this year, the launch of the second part of the electricity market took place – the reform of its wholesale part. The participants of the wholesale market (one of which, in particular, is ZFP) have a financial responsibility for compliance with the volumes of purchased and consumed electricity. The price in the new market is formed taking into account the volume of energy consumption, payment schedules and payment discipline, as well as electricity consumption per day. There is a certain surplus of electricity at night, so it is cheaper at night.
According to him, from now on, it will also be necessary to make accurate forecasts of consumption, taking into account seasonal and daily consumption. Prices on the wholesale electricity market change every hour, so it is imperative to understand how much energy the company has consumed at a particular hour: at night, when electricity is the cheapest, or during the day, when it is expensive.
“The energy market today dictates its rules to us. We have already made sure that it is more economically profitable for us to work at night. Therefore, we are reformatting our production activities and we will perform all energy-intensive operations within the framework of the night work schedule. In the daytime, we will try to save money – we will only carry out preparatory work,” the head of the plant said.
Zaporizhia Ferroalloy Plant is one of three Ukrainian manufacturers of these products. The share of the domestic market of its supplies is 30-35%. Products are exported to the CIS countries, the European Union, Asia and Africa.