Ukrainian crude steel production fell 3% in the first quarter

The Ukrainian Steel Manufacturers Union Ukrmetallurgprom issued a news on April 5. In the first quarter of this year, Ukrainian crude steel production fell 3% from the same period last year to 5.23 million tons.
Steel is one of the most exported Ukrainian products. After crude steel production increased by 5.5% in 2016 compared with the same period of last year, production fell last year. Ukrmetallurgprom stated that the decline in production was due to the fact that since the pro-Russian separatists controlled parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014, the destruction of the railway transport network caused difficulties in the transport of raw materials, and some of the production capacity suffered losses.
Ukrmetallurgprom data show that in the first quarter of this year, Ukrainian pig iron production increased by 8% to 5.25 million tons, while steel production fell by 2% to 4.59 million tons.
Ukrmetallurgprom stated that in March this year Ukraine produced 1.71 million tons of steel, 1.68 million tons of pig iron and 1.51 million tons of steel.
Ukrainian crude steel production is expected to reach 1.7 million tons in April.