Ukraine reduced coke production by 5.1% in January–November

In January–November 2020, Ukrainian coke companies decreased production of blast-furnace coke by 5.1% to 8.8 million tons compared to the same period of the previous year, according to Interfax-Ukraine with reference to Ukrkoks association of coke companies.

“In November, coke production remained more or less the same as in the previous three months. The companies produce only as much as is ordered and production results still fail to catch up with the previous year’s figures,” explains Anatoliy Starovoit, CEO of Ukrkoks.

According to him, 27% of the total volume of coal supplied in January–November had domestic origin while 73% was imported.

“Around 4.6 million tons was imported from Russia, 3.3 million tons from the U.S. and Canada. Domestic coal accounted for 3.25 million tons,” adds Mr Starovoit.

811 thousand tons of coke were produced in November. In 11M 2020, the following companies cut coke production compared to the same period of 2019:

• Avdiyivka Coke Plant by 10.4% to 2.7 million tons (229 thousand tons produced in November);
• Azovstal by 0.6% to 1.2 million tons (113 thousand tons);
• Dniprokoks by 4.2% to 457 thousand tons (48 thousand tons);
• Kharkiv Coke Plant by 88.6% to 4 thousand tons (0 thousand tons);
• AMKR by 7.3% to 2.4 million tons (237 thousand tons).

In January–August, the following three Ukrainian companies boosted coke production:

• Dniprovskyi Coke Plant by 5.1% to 539 thousand tons (49 thousand tons produced in November);
• Zaporizhzhia Coke Plant by 3.5% to 457 thousand tons (78 thousand tons);
• Yuzhkoks by 5.8% to 599 thousand tons (58 thousand tons).

In 2019, Ukrainian coke plants cut production of blast-furnace coke with 6% moisture content by 7.1% against 2018, down to 10.059 million tons.