Ukraine daily steel production to slide 1% in December

Ukrainian steelmakers plan to produce 2.65 mmt of steel in December, up 2% mom, the industry association head stated on Nov. 14. The production plan for November foresees output of 2.6 mmt of steel, also a 2% mom increase. These numbers imply that daily steel production will slide 1% mom in December to 85.5 kt, compared to a 5% mom hike in November. Thus, the total steel output in 2012 will be close to 32.4 mmt, decreasing 6% yoy.

Roman Topolyuk: The announced production plan for December reflects stable but sluggish demand on the steel market. In November, Ukrainian producers tried to negotiate price increases but this was successful only for long steel products (billets, rebars etc.). Prices for flat products (slabs, hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil) continued sliding. Hence, market conditions slightly improved for Yenakiieve Steel (ENMZ UK), but worsened for Azovstal (AZST UK) and Alchevsk Iron & Steel Works (ALMK UK).