Zaporizhzhya Ferroalloy Plant (ZFP) will not restart operations in March 2024, as planned earlier. The reason for this is high electricity prices and low ferroalloy prices on the world market.
Pavel Kravchenko, chairman of the board of ZFP, said that while electricity prices are gradually falling and ferroalloy prices on the world market are rising, this is not enough to restart the plant.
In 2023, Ukrainian ferroalloy companies reduced production by 57.4% compared to 2022. This is related to the complete shutdown of Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, ZFP and Marganets Mining and Processing Plant from November 2023. This was particularly caused by the intensification of hostilities, falling ferroalloys prices, and logistical restrictions.
One of the main reasons for plant shutdowns is the increase in electricity tariffs, which affected production costs and profitability of the plants.
Exports of ferroalloys in 2023 decreased by 4.9% year-on-year to 344.2 thousand tonnes in 2022. Compared to pre-war 2021, shipments of ferroalloys abroad decreased by 48.5%, or 324.4 thousand tonnes. In 2023, Poland became the leader in consumption of Ukrainian-made ferroalloys, purchasing 52.8% of products in monetary terms. Türkiye ranked second with 14.1% of export shipments, while the Netherlands ranked third with 8.5%.
In January 2024, exports almost completely stopped, with 0.23,000 tonnes of products exported during the month, compared to 2.5,000 tonnes in December and 55.9,000 tonnes in January 2023.
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