Ukraine’s pig iron exports increased in the first seven months of 2020 amid strong demand for the material.
The country exported 1.801mn mt of pig iron in January-July up by 29pc from the same period in 2019, according to Ukrainian customs. The US was the main outlet with 57pc of the material shipped there, followed by China which imported 21pc, and Turkey which took in 8pc of Ukrainian pig iron shipments. This year, China imported significant tonnages of pig iron, setting the price trend in the global market.
Ukraine exported 332,000mt of pig iron in July 2020, up by 68pc up from July 2019.
Pig iron production falls
According to Ukrmetalurgprom data, pig iron production in Ukraine declined by 1pc to 11.741mn mt in the first seven months of the year from11.894mn mt during the same period last year. Despite the reduction, the country occupied 9th position among the world’s 40 largest pig iron producers, according to worldsteel.
The top five pig iron producers through the first seven months of this year were China, which produced 510.860mn mt of pig iron, followed by India at 52.189mn mt, Japan at 36.290mn mt, Russia at 30.730mn mt, and South Korea at 25.429mn mt.