Oleksandr Kalenkov, President of the Ukrmetalurgprom association, said: “We hope that the volume of steel smelting in 2024 will not be lower than last year, and taking into account the plans of individual enterprises, steel smelting is expected at the level of 7-7.2 million tons. All enterprises have set growth goals in the 10-15% range for the current year.”
He also assumes that mining complex enterprises will be able to return to loading capacities at 80-90% of the pre-war indicators in 2021 and increase their income from export sales.
“If the sea corridor continues to operate this year, we can expect a significant increase in export revenue, primarily due to iron ore raw materials,” he emphasized.
Currently, ore exporters face difficulties with the priority given to agricultural products in rail transportation toward ports and port transshipment. More than 28 million tons of exported goods have been shipped since the corridor began to operate, of which approximately 66% were agricultural goods, and only 33% were Metallurgy and Mining Complex products.