BY Reuters
KYIV, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s steel output rose by 21.6% in 2024 to 7.58 million metric tons, its producers union said late on Thursday, though fighting that is closing in on the country’s only coking coal mine threatens to slash volumes this year.
Steel production has already suffered since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has led to the destruction of leading steel plants.
Ukraine, formerly a major steel producer and exporter, reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million tons. It fell to 6 million tons in 2023.
The steelmakers’ union said in October the potential closure of the Pokrovsk mine, Ukraine’s only coking coal mine, could cause steel production to slump to 2-3 million metric tons in 2025.
Advancing Russian forces are less than 2 km (1.24 miles) from the mine, Ukrainian military analyst DeepState said on Friday.
The mine’s owner, steelmaker Metinvest BV, said last month it had already halted some operations at the mine and two industry sources said it was operating at 50% capacity.
Producers have said they hope to find coking coal from elsewhere in Ukraine should the mine be seized by Russian troops, but imports would inevitably be needed which would raise costs.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Jason Neely)
