By the end of 2021, Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises are expected to increase steel production by 6% year-on-year to 21.894 million tonnes.

According to the reference documents of the Ministry of Economy held by Interfax-Ukraine, the production of general-purpose rolled products will increase by 5% to 19.411 million tons, pig iron smelting - by 6% to 21.727 million tons.

The forecast is based on production indicators for January - June 2021, summarized by the Ukrmetallurgprom association, the ministry said in a statement.

At the same time, the agency's interlocutor said that if the existing trends continue, the supply of scrap metal to metallurgical enterprises in 2021 will increase by 14%, to 3.31 million tons.

The production of pipes in 2021 may increase by 12%, to 957 thousand tons, coke by 3%, to 9.927 million tons, refractory bricks by 9%, to 240 thousand tons ( 119 thousand tons, an increase of 9%). Sinter output may increase by 7% to 34.207 million tons.

Recall that according to Ukrmetallurgprom, in the first half of this year, steel production in Ukraine increased by 7.4%, finished metal products output - by 6.6%. Pig iron smelting also increased - by 8.0% and the output of pipe metal products - by 17.4%.