In the first quarter of 2015, the deficiency of iron scrap was 221 thousand tons or 23% of the needs of metallurgical enterprises. The export of scrap metal from the country during the same period exceeded the shortfalls on the domestic market and amounted to 266 thousand tons.

Due to the data from "Metallupgprom" union and INTERPIPE Company the need of metallurgists in iron scrap in Q1 2015 amounted to 926 thousand tons. The current volume of shipments to steel enterprises totaled 705 thousand tons.

The main reason of the deficiency is export of scrap. According to the data of SE "Ukrpromvneshexpertiza" the volume of iron scrap export in Q1 2015 amounted to 266 thousand tons. This volume could fully compensate the shortfall of raw material for Ukrainian consumers.

Steelmakers were forced to compensate the shortage of scrap by using hot briquetted iron, what imports from Russia or cast iron. Their use increases the production cost of the steel.

In the case when production technology does not allow replacing scrap, enterprises stopped. "The downtime of INTERPIPE STEEL due to the lack of scrap amounted to 15 days in the Q1, - Denis Morozov, Director of Economics and Finance INTERPIPE, comments. - This caused not only to the economic loses, but also to reputation, like violation of terms of delivery of products to customers.

Further deficiency of iron scrap will impair the competitiveness of Ukrainian steel products on export markets.

Earlier, the Ministry of Economy has approved the balance sheet of scrap in 2015. The document defines the volume of exports of iron scrap at the level of 1 million 250 thousand tons, which is the highest level of exports for the last 10 years.

Reference:
Interpipe is global producer of steel pipes and railway wheels. The company's products are marketed in more than 80 countries around the world through a network of sales offices located in key markets of the CIS, the Middle East, North America, and Europe.
In 2013 the company's mills produced more than 1.1 million tons of pipe and wheel products.

Contact details for the mass media:
Lucy Novak
Phone: +380 67 565 00 42
Ludmila.novak@interpipe.biz

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