Ukrainian steel to undergo 6% yoy output growth in 2013, Metallurgprom says

Ukraine will increase steel output 4% mom in January to 2.76 mmt, the head of the Metallurgprom industry association forecasted on Dec. 12. The association head sees a 6% yoy increase in steel production to 34.4 mmt in 2013.

Roman Topolyuk: The elevated expectations for January come after the unusual occurrence of non-growing production in autumn 2012 and presume that the destocking process could be over. However, the forecast could be optimistic, as buying interest among customers in January appears to be very modest. The yearly production forecast sounds also a bit optimistic, considering the 0.2% yoy decrease in 2013 steel consumption in the EU region projected by Eurofer in October, as well as due to macroeconomic uncertainty in other world regions.