Ukraine’s pig iron exports increased in the first eight months of 2020 on strong demand for the material in foreign destinations.
The country exported 2.049mn mt of pig iron in January-August, up 31pc from the same period last year, according to Ukrainian customs. More than half of the material (57pc) was shipped to the US, 23pc to China, and 7pc to Turkey.
Ukraine exported 248,000mt of pig iron in August, an increase of 44pc compared with the same month in 2019.
Pig iron production in Ukraine declined by 1pc to 13.554mn mt during the period under review, according to Ukrmetalurgprom data. However, the country remained the 9th largest producer of the material in the world, according to worldsteel. The top-five pig iron producers through the first eight months of this year were China (589.402mn mt), India (63.296mn mt), Japan (41.060mn mt), Russia (35.180mn mt), and South Korea (29.520mn mt).