Metinvest, an international vertically integrated mining and metallurgical group of companies, will act as the general partner of the international forum “Decarbonization of the Steel Industry: a Challenge for Ukraine,” which will be held in Kyiv on July 14, 2021.
According to the company’s press release, an event on the topic that has been discussed by the entire international community in recent years will be held in Ukraine for the first time.
As noted, for many years of operation, Metinvest has been striving to reduce the negative impact of production on the environment. Over the past 10 years, the group has allocated more than $ 3.4 billion for environmental initiatives and is committed to further reducing its carbon footprint to combat climate change.
Meanwhile, achieving carbon neutrality will be a big challenge for Ukrainian companies, as it involves a complete change in production processes and supply chains. In addition, the necessary technologies that will make the country’s economy carbon-free are only at the research stage. To develop a detailed roadmap for the transition to a “green” industry requires interaction between manufacturers, engineering companies, consumers, suppliers and the government.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the director general of Metinvest, stressed that the industry is facing a serious task that will affect the life of the entire country.
“Decarbonization can completely change both production and technologies. The sooner business and the state develop a unified approach to achieving carbon neutrality, the easier this process will be for the Ukrainian economy,” the top manager stated.
The forum is organized by GMK Center, an information-analytical and consulting company working in the field of metallurgy and industry. At the forum it is planned to discuss issues related to decarbonization of steel production, existing and promising technologies, plans of companies to reduce CO2 emissions and interaction with the state in this direction. The event will be attended by the representatives of mining and metallurgical companies, international engineering, consulting and R&D companies, as well as government officials, business associations and industry experts.
The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe in January-May this year increased steel production by 10.6% compared to the same period last year, to 368,200 tonnes.
According to the company’s monthly report, for the five months of 2021, pipe production increased by 6.4%, to 206,700 tonnes, the output of railway products decreased by 24.1%, to 68,000 tonnes.
In May, steel smelting amounted to 86,000 tonnes (in April – 89,200 tonnes), pipe production – 51,600 tonnes (48,300 tonnes), railway products – 13,000 tonnes (14,700 tonnes).
It is also reported that pipes in January-May of this year were sold in Europe (29%), the MENA region (25%), Ukraine (17%), the CIS (12%), the American continent (14%) and other regions (3%). In May, pipes were sold in Europe (24%), Ukraine (14%), the MENA region (30%), the CIS (11%), the American continent (17%) and other regions (4%).
Railway products for the five months of 2021 were sold in the CIS (48%), Europe (32%), Ukraine (8%), the MENA region (3%), the American continent (7%) and other regions (3%). In May – in the CIS (48%), Europe (29%), Ukraine (7%), the MENA region (2%), the American continent (4%) and in other regions (10%).
According to Interpipe’s commentary, in May 2021, the company’s trading activity continued to recover in all key products and markets in connection with the lifting of quarantine restrictions in the world and the recovery of business activity.
At the same time, the total sales of the company’s pipe products in May increased by 9.1% compared to the previous month, to 48,900 tonnes, and by 6.1% in the five months of 2021, to 198,800 tonnes.
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises are expected to increase steel production by 5% by the end of 2021 compared to 2020, to 21.723 million tonnes.
As reported in the background documents of the Ministry of Economy, which are at disposal of Interfax-Ukraine, production of general rolled products will also increase by 5%, to 19.394 million tonnes, as well as cast iron – by 5%, to 21.521 million tonnes.
The forecast is based on production indicators for January-May of this year, summarized by the Ukrmetalurgprom association, the ministry said.
At the same time, the source of the agency said that if the existing trends continue, the supply of scrap metal to metallurgical enterprises in 2021 will increase by 13%, to 3.280 million tonnes.
Output of pipes in 2021 may increase by 9%, to 931,000 tonnes, coke – by 3%, to 9.928 million tonnes, and refractories – by 7%, to 235,000 tonnes.
Ukraine in 2020 reduced steel exports to 15.2 million tonnes from 15.6 million tonnes a year earlier, but rose in the ranking of exporters from the tenth to the ninth place, according to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
According to the report, India was ranked higher than Ukraine last year among exporters with 17.1 million tonnes, Italy closed the top ten with 14.9 million tonnes, and China is still at the top of this list with 51.4 million tonnes, followed by Russia with 31.5 million tonnes and Japan with 29.8 million tonnes.
At the same time, due to the small volume of imports, Ukraine in the world ranking of net exporters in 2020 retained its fourth place with an indicator of 13.9 million tonnes, which is only slightly less than the 2019 indicator of 14 million tonnes.
The first place here is taken by Russia with 26.4 million tonnes, the second – by Japan with 24.8 million tonnes, the third – by South Korea with 16.1 million tonnes, while China is the fifth in this list with 13.5 million tonnes.
China was the largest importer of metal last year with 37.09 million tonnes, followed by the EU-28 with 32.6 million tonnes, excluding interregional trade, and the United States came third with 19.9 million tonnes.
In the ranking of net importers over 2020, the United States is leading with 13.6 million tonnes, the EU-28 is in the second place with 10 million tonnes, and Saudi Arabia is in the third place with 7.2 million tonnes.
Worldsteel recalls that in 2020 Ukraine produced 20.6 million tonnes of steel and took 12th place, the volume of pig iron production amounted to 20.4 million tonnes. At the same time, the country exported 3.1 million tonnes of pig iron last year, and its apparent consumption amounted to 17.3 million tonnes.
Apparent steel consumption in Ukraine in 2020, according to the association, amounted to 4.6 million tonnes, while consumption per capita – 105.5 kg.
World crude steel production in April this year grew by 23.3% year-on-year, to 169.5 million tonnes, according to a press release from the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
Based on the results of the work of metallurgical enterprises in April 2021, Ukraine increased steel production by 37.8% compared with April 2020, to 1.845 million tonnes, climbing from 13th to 14th place in the ranking of 64 countries – the world’s main producers of these products compiled by Worldsteel.
In April, an increase in steel production was recorded compared with April last year in all countries of the top ten.
The top ten steel-producing countries in April 2021 are as follows: China (97.850 million tonnes, a rise of 13.4% on April 2020), India (8.3 million tonnes, a rise of 152.1%), Japan (7.817 million tonnes, a rise of 18.9%), the United States (6.896 million tonnes, a rise of 43%), Russia (6.5 million tonnes, a rise of 15.1%), South Korea (5.860 million tonnes, a rise of 15.4%), Germany (3.361 million tonnes, a rise of 31.5%), Turkey (3.290 million tonnes, a rise of 46.6%), Brazil (3.073 million tonnes, a rise of 59.3%) and Iran (2.470 million tonnes, a rise of 6.4% ).
They are followed by Italy (2.056 million tonnes, a rise of 78.9%), Taiwan (China, 1.915 million tonnes, a rise of 9.1%), Vietnam (1.880 million tonnes, a rise of 77.4%), Ukraine (1.845 million tonnes, a rise of 37.8%) and Mexico (1.610 million tonnes, a rise of 21%).
In total, 64 countries produced 662.780 million tonnes of steel in January-April 2021, which is 13.7% more than in the same period last year.
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January-April this year have increased the production of general rolled products, according to operational data, by 7.4% compared to the same period last year – up to 6.414 million tonnes.
In the first four months of the year steel production has increased by 7.2% – up to 7.138 million tonnes, pig iron – by 9.1% – up to 7.075 million tonnes, the association Ukrmetalurgprom said on Thursday.
In April, 1.680 million tonnes of rolled products, 1.847 million tonnes of steel, 1.762 million tonnes of pig iron were produced, while in the previous month – 1.575 million tonnes of rolled products, 1.779 million tonnes of steel, and 1.805 million tonnes of pig iron.
