The steel industry earned little profit in 2018

In general, profits of companies of the Steelmaking and Production of Finished Metal Products industry changed drastically in 2018. According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the industry’s profit amounted to UAH 689.6 million compared to UAH 9.8 billion in 2017.

At the 2018 year-end, its results looked like this: 76.8% of companies in the industry earned profit of UAH 34.5 billion, while 23.2% of companies suffered a loss of UAH 33.8 billion. The profit of the steelmaking and metals sectors was just 0.6% of Ukraine’s whole industry.

Profit before tax was UAH 6.45 billion compared to a loss of UAH 5.9 billion in 2017. Profit before tax of the steelmaking and metals sectors was just 4% of the whole Ukrainian industry.

In the end of 2018, the financial performance ratio was as follows: 77% of companies in the industry reported profit before tax of UAH 40.1 billion, while 22.8% of companies showed a loss of UAH 33.7 billion. The lion’s share of profits and losses accounts for large companies, UAH 33.9 billion and UAH 31 billion respectively.

In 2018, profitability (unprofitability) of operating activity of the companies in the industry was 1.6% (the same as in 2017), all activities — 0.1%.

As reported earlier, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih increased net profit in 2018 by 84.2%, up to $350 million (UAH 9.51 billion).  The Metinvest Group increased net profit in 2018 by 93%, up to $1,188 million; the margin rose by 3 percentage points compared to 2017, up to 10%.