KYIV. Nov 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The development of exports will take a long time but Ukrainian metalwork producers will soon occupy a niche and will be in demand on the European market, first of all in Poland, and they will also be able to successfully realize projects in developing regions in the post-Soviet space, Director General of Ukrstalkonstruktsiya and Board Chairman of the Ukrainian Steelwork Construction Center Volodymyr Nosov has said.
He said that the price of Ukrainian rolled metal is currently close to European prices, and taking into account the specifics of production processes at Ukrainian enterprises, Ukrainian metalwork products do not have an absolute price advantage in Europe.
“It is very important that Ukrainian metal roll suppliers feel interested in growth in the production of produce with higher added value, and increase domestic metal roll consumption. Today we sees this interest, and we hope that with the joint efforts of the steelwork construction sector participants, Ukrainian metalwork [products] will become more competitive in the West,” he said in an interview with the Ukrainian Steelwork Construction Center, which has been posted on its website.
Nosov said that most Ukrainian metalwork producers are less efficient than their European counterparts. Ukraine has small production volumes and it is inappropriate to invest in the optimization of organization of production processes.
“In other words, Ukrainian producers have the potential to reduce the production cost of metalwork [products],” he said, adding that it is strategically important for Ukrainian metalwork producers to develop exports, even if they make losses during the initial stages.
