Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

“Zaporizhstal” Reduced Rolled Steel Shipments by 6.3% in First Half of Year

The Zaporizhzhia Metallurgical Plant “Zaporizhstal” reduced its rolled steel shipments by 6.3% in January–June of this year compared to the same period last year—to 1,272,200 metric tons from 1,317,500 metric tons.

According to the company’s press release, steel production for the first six months of the year totaled 1,442.9 thousand metric tons (compared to 1,564.1 thousand metric tons in January–June 2025), while pig iron production totaled 1,556.2 thousand metric tons (compared to 1,719.4 thousand metric tons).
In June, Zaporizhstal produced 301.2 thousand metric tons of pig iron and 284.9 thousand metric tons of steel, and shipped 243.7 thousand metric tons of rolled steel, whereas in the previous month it produced 242.1 thousand metric tons of pig iron, 243.4 thousand metric tons of steel, and shipped 208.9 thousand metric tons of rolled steel.

As reported, in 2025, Zaporizhstal increased its rolled steel output by 15.2% compared to the previous year—to 2,794.6 thousand metric tons from 2,426.7 thousand metric tons. Steel production amounted to 3,212,200 metric tons (compared to 2,890,800 metric tons in 2024), and pig iron production to 3,567,800 metric tons (compared to 3,106,300 metric tons).
In 2024, Zaporizhstal increased its rolled steel output by 18.1% compared to 2023—to 2,426,700 metric tons from 2,054,700 metric tons—and its steel output by 17.2%, to 2,890.8 thousand metric tons, and pig iron by 14.2%, to 3,106.3 thousand metric tons.

“Zaporizhstal” is one of Ukraine’s largest industrial enterprises, whose products are in high demand among consumers both in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
Zaporizhstal is a joint venture of the Metinvest Group, whose main shareholders are PJSC System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Steel Limited (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of the Metinvest Group.

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Ukraine reduced steel production by 6.12% in January–May

Ukrainian steelmakers reduced steel production by 6.12% in January–May of this year compared to the same period last year, down to 2.875 million tons.

According to data from the Ukrmetallurgprom association, 629,400 tons of steel were produced in May, 517,300 tons in April, 702,300 tons in March, in February—515,000 tons, and in January—511,100 tons.

As reported, Ukraine’s steel companies reduced steel production by 2.2% in 2025—to 7.409 million tons.

In 2024, Ukraine increased steel production by 21.6% compared to 2023—to 7.575 million tons. In 2023, steel production decreased by 0.6% to 6.228 million tons, and in 2022, by 70.7% to 6.263 million tons.

In 2021, before the war, 21.366 million tons of steel were produced, or 103.6% of the 2020 level.

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“Kametstal” has reduced electricity consumption in its converter shop

The ‘Kametstal’ plant, part of the “Metinvest” mining and metallurgical group and established at the facilities of the Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant (Kamenskoye, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast), has reduced electricity consumption in its converter shop by 6 kWh per ton of steel produced, from 27.4 to 21.4 kWh/t, through measures to reduce equipment load during periods between smelting runs.

According to the company, in particular, the downtime for unloading converter exhaust fan rotors has been cut in half. Operations have been organized on a rotational basis for each of the two converters, allowing equipment not involved in the current melt to be shut down and minimizing idle time, thereby ensuring a systematic reduction in electricity consumption.

In addition, electricity consumption by circulation pumps No. 1 and No. 2—which supply water to the converter gas cooling boilers on both operating converters—has been reduced by 1.2 kWh/t. As part of the investment project, frequency converters and modern controllers from Schneider were installed on CN-1 and CN-2. This allows for the automatic unloading of pumping equipment in accordance with the steelmaking process, thereby minimizing its electricity consumption between converter purges.

In the post-converter steel processing department, electricity consumption was reduced by 4.6 kWh/t through the phased implementation of effective engineering solutions to optimize metal heating. At the same time, the algorithm for automatic control of the metal heating process in the “furnace-ladle” unit was refined and improved by selecting the optimal combination of heating stages and heating rates.

Kametsal was established on the basis of PJSC Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant (DKCHZ) and PJSC Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant (DMP). It is part of the Metinvest Group.

Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. Its facilities are located in Ukraine—in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions—as well as in European countries. The holding’s main shareholders are the SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of the Metinvest Group.

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Ukraine increased its apparent steel consumption by 13.9% in 2025 – Worldsteel

According to the 2025 results, Ukraine increased its apparent steel consumption by 13.9% compared to 2024—from 3.6 million tons to 4.1 million tons, according to data from Worldsteel’s annual compendium.

Per capita steel consumption in Ukraine reached 105.3 kg in 2025, compared to 95.9 kg a year earlier. Globally, this figure averaged 209 kg per person, compared to 214.8 kg in 2024.

According to Worldsteel, Ukraine produced 7.4 million tons of steel in 2025 and ranked 23rd in the global ranking of producers. In 2024, the country produced 7.6 million tons of steel and ranked 22nd.

There are no Ukrainian companies on the list of the world’s 50 largest steel producers for the 2022–2025 period, whereas the Metinvest Group was included in this ranking in 2014–2021.

The world’s largest steelmaker in 2025, as in 2024 and 2023, was China Baowu Group, with production of 124.76 million tons of steel. In second place is ArcelorMittal with 63.43 million tons, followed by Nippon Steel Corporation with 57.78 million tons, Ansteel Group with 57.61 million tons, and HBIS Group with 42.49 million tons.

According to the results for 2022–2025, Ukraine did not make it into the top 20 largest steel exporters, whereas in 2021 it ranked 10th, having sold 15.7 million tons of steel products on foreign markets.

At the same time, in the ranking of net exporters, Ukraine ranked 9th in the world in 2025 with a volume of 1.7 million tons, compared to 10th place and 3.4 million tons in 2024.

In addition, Ukraine exported 0.4 million tons of ferrous metal scrap in 2025, compared to 0.3 million tons in 2024.

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Global steel production fell by 1.9% in April; Ukraine ranked 25th in Worldsteel ranking

Global steel production in April 2026 fell by 1.9% compared to the same period in 2025, to 153.449 million tons, according to data from the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).

China remains the leader in global steel production, having reduced output in April by 2.8% compared to April of last year—to 83.630 million tons. India took second place with a 3.9% increase in production to 13.829 million tons. The U.S. increased production by 9.4% to 7.160 million tons and ranked third.

The top ten steel producers in April also included Japan—6.620 million tons (+0.3%), South Korea—5.245 million tons (+4.8%), Russia—5.020 million tons (-12.4%), Turkey—3.291 million tons (+9.4%), Germany—3.233 million tons (+9.5%), Brazil – 2.720 million tons (+2.8%), and Vietnam – 2.130 million tons (+4%).

Iran recorded the largest percentage decline among the countries included in Worldsteel’s statistics in April, with steel production falling by 45.7% to 1.8 million tons.

In April 2026, Ukraine ranked 25th among 69 countries in the Worldsteel ranking. Ukrainian steel mills produced 517,000 tons of steel during the month, which is 25.3% less than in April 2025, when the figure stood at 692,000 tons. Compared to March 2026, when 702,000 tons were produced, the decline amounted to 26.3%.

In the January–April 2026 period, global steel production decreased by 2% compared to the same period last year, to 613.323 million tons.

The top ten steel-producing countries for the four-month period are as follows: China – 331.120 million tons (-4.1%), India – 58.681 million tons (+9.4%), the U.S. – 28.140 million tons (+6.6%), Japan – 26.670 million tons (-1.2%), South Korea – 21.041 million tons (+2.5%), Russia – 20.570 million tons (-12%), Turkey – 13.037 million tons (+6.3%), Germany – 12.493 million tons (+9.1%), Brazil – 10.793 million tons (-1.6%), and Vietnam – 8.520 million tons (+8.4%).

In January–April 2026, Ukraine reduced its steel output by 7.4% compared to the same period in 2025—from 2.425 million tons to 2.246 million tons. At the end of the four-month period, the country ranked 24th in the global ranking.

As reported, at the end of 2025, the world’s largest steel producers were China—960.810 million tons (-4.4%), India—164.887 million tons (+10.4%), the United States—81.951 million tons (+3.1%), Japan—80.679 million tons (-4%), Russia—67.820 million tons (-4.5%), South Korea—61.882 million tons (-2.8%), Turkey—38.118 million tons (+3.3%), Germany – 34.090 million tons (-8.6%), Brazil – 33.347 million tons (-1.6%), and Iran – 31.8 million tons (+1.4%).

In total, 70 countries produced 1,803.774 million tons of steel in 2025, which is 2% less than in 2024.

In 2025, Ukraine produced 7.409 million tons of steel, which is 2.2% less than in 2024. At the end of last year, the country ranked 21st in the global ranking of steel producers.

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Ukrainian steelmakers reduced rolled steel output by 9.1% in January–April

According to preliminary data, Ukrainian steelmakers reduced their production of rolled steel by 9.1% in January–April of this year compared to the same period last year, down to 1.802 million tons.

According to information from the Ukrmetallurgprom association on Monday, 460,800 tons of rolled steel were produced in April, 544,500 tons in March, 390,300 tons in February, and 406,400 tons in January.

As reported, Ukraine’s steel companies increased total rolled steel production by 4.8% in 2025 compared to 2024, reaching 6.521 million tons.

In 2024, Ukraine increased total rolled steel production by 15.8% compared to 2023—to 6.222 million tons from 5.372 million tons.

In 2023, Ukraine increased total rolled steel production by 0.4% compared to 2022—to 5.372 million tons.

In 2022, the country reduced total rolled steel production by 72% compared to 2021—to 5.350 million tons.

In 2021, before the war, 19.079 million tons of rolled steel were produced (103.5%).

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