Zaporizhia Iron Ore Plant (Dniprorudne, Zaporizhia region) in 2021 increased iron ore production by 1.2% compared to 2020, to 4.620 million tonnes.
As the company told Interfax-Ukraine, during this period, 4.523 million tonnes of products were shipped to consumers.
At the same time, 263,900 tonnes of ore were mined in December, and 320,900 tonnes of products were shipped to consumers.
Zaporizhia Iron Ore Plant sells its products to metallurgical enterprises in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland, as well as to Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant in Ukraine.
The main shareholders of the plant are Slovak company Minerfin, a.s. with 51.1697%, Zaporizhstal with 29.5193%, and Czech KSK Consulting, a.s. with 19.0632%.
Production of beer (except for non-alcoholic beer with an alcohol content of up to 0.5% vol.) in Ukraine in 2021 fell by 5.0% compared to the same period in 2020, to 170.5 million decalitres, the Ukrpyvo branch organization of brewers said on its website on Tuesday evening.
In addition, the production of malt in the country last year declined by 19.5%, to 218,500 tonnes.
As reported, beer production in 2020 in Ukraine decreased 0.4% compared to 2019, to 179.7 million decaliters, and malt production fell by 18%, to 275,000 tonnes.
Coal mining enterprises of Ukraine in 2021 increased production of coal by 2% (by 569,500 tonnes) compared to 2020 – to 29.388 million tonnes, according to the data of the Ministry of Energy.
In particular, production of steam coal amounted to 22.153 million tonnes, coking coal – 7.234 million tonnes.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, coal mining enterprises, which are part of the ministry’s sphere of management, last year increased production by 1.9 times – up to 5.446 million tonnes, which is largely due to the return from the lease by DTEK of the assets of state enterprise Dobropilliavuhillia.
The mines of Donetsk region in 2021 ensured the production of 11.892 million tonnes of coal (up 5.7% from 2020), Luhansk region – 257,600 tonnes (up 14.2%), Dnipropetrovsk – 16.032 million tonnes (up 0.2%), Lviv – 1.182 million tonnes (down 9.7%), Volyn – 24,400 tonnes (down 28.5%).
In December 2021, production of coal in the country increased by 5.8% compared to the same month in 2020 – to 2.772 million tonnes.
Ukraine’s leading pipe enterprises in January-November of this year increased production of pipes from ferrous metals, according to recent data, by 15.7% year-over-year, to 906,200 tonnes, including 87,100 tonnes produced in November. A source in the industry told Interfax-Ukraine, in particular, the enterprises of the Ukrtruboprom association have increased pipe production by 31.4% over this period, to 649,000 tonnes. Including in November, output amounted to 69,700 tonnes.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Ukrtruboprom welcomed a decision of the Ukrainian authorities to raise the export duty on scrap metal from EUR 58 to EUR 180 per tonne.
“Ukrainian pipe manufacturers expected this measure to restrict the export of strategic raw materials six months ago. It was from the end of spring that the export of ferrous scrap became uncontrolled, which caused a shortage of raw materials and even the import of round billets,” Ukrtruboprom Director General Heorhiy Polsky said, who signed the statement.
At the same time, he noted the timeliness of the duty hike: “It is important that the decision necessary for the Ukrainian pipe industry was made at the beginning of the winter season, when the volume of scrap procurement, the main raw material for production of seamless pipe products, is traditionally reduced.”
According to him, the new export duty will help stabilize the situation with scrap in the domestic market: pipe industry enterprises will be provided with raw materials, and people – with jobs and wages. After all, the export of highly processed products brings to the Ukrainian budget 4 times more taxes than the export of unprocessed raw materials abroad, Polsky summed up.
Central Mining and Processing Plant (Kryvy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region), part of Metinvest Group, in January-October this year, reduced production of commercial pellets, according to recent data, by 0.5% y-o-y, to 1.850 million tonnes.
As the enterprise told Interfax-Ukraine, in October production of pellets amounted to 110,210 tonnes.
Over ten months, Central Mining reduced production of iron ore concentrate by 2.9%, to 3.959 million tonnes, including 433,163 tonnes produced in October.
At the same time, the agency source noted that in recent months, the lag in production this year has been decreasing in comparison with the previous year. So, in particular, the relative level of backlog of production of commercial pellets in nine months of this year was 2.5% y-o-y, and concentrate – 3%.
As Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, recently announced, in 2020 the company received the first high-quality pellets at Central Mining – DRI-class pellets. The next step is Pivnichny (Northern) Mining and Processing Plant.
The production of metal structures in Ukraine by the end of 2021 may grow by 4-5%, this forecast was announced by Executive Director of the Ukrainian Steel Construction Center (USCC) Viacheslav Kolesnik in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“The first half of 2021 was good: the production of metal structures amounted to about 76,000 tonnes. The third quarter was slightly worse in terms of dynamics: at that moment the price began to fall, many believed that buying metal on a downtrend was not always justified. The situation has stabilized. We still expect that in 2021 we will get results somewhat better than last year – growth of 4-5%,” he said.
According to Kolesnik, the metal structures market is currently in a downtrend in metal prices. “The rise in energy prices halted the downward trend – since October, prices have frozen. We hope that the trend of growth in energy prices will not last long, by the end of winter the situation will stabilize and the downward trend in metal prices will continue,” he said.
According to the expert, fluctuations in metal prices do not have a significant impact on exports, but on the local market they are significant from the point of view of the competitiveness of metal structures in comparison with other structural materials.
Kolesnik noted one more factor that may affect the final results of the year. “Significant volumes of metal are used for road construction, in particular for road fencing. Payments are practically suspended there in October-November. If payments to road fence manufacturers are not resumed, this segment will sag by 25-30% year-over-year,” he said.
