The first quarter of 2021 did not bring expected production growth to Ukrainian metallurgists
According to the updated data of the OP " Ukrmetallurgprom " , in January-March 2021, metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine smelted half a percent less steel than in the same period last year - 5.29 million tons. At the same time, the production of finished rolled metal increased by only 1.4% and amounted to 4.73 million tons, including the production of pipe products decreased by 3.7% to 0.203 million tons. At the same time, sinter output in the first quarter of this year increased by 4.6% year on year to 8.22 million tons; pig iron - by 4.3% to 5.31 million tons.
As of April 13, 2021, of the main existing production facilities, 17 out of 21 blast furnaces, 7 out of 8 open-hearth furnaces, 14 out of 16 converters, 5 out of 15 electric furnaces and 15 out of 17 continuous casting machines are in operation.
Interestingly, according to Ukrmetallurgprom, in the first quarter of 2021, domestic metallurgy consumed about 500 million cubic meters of natural gas, which is 9.7% more than last year. In addition, the consumption of electricity by metallurgical enterprises also increased, which in three months of 2021 amounted to about 2.8 billion kWh (102.2% compared to January-March 2020).