The ¡°Trading house ¡°Kaiman¡±, LLC (Stakhanov, Lugansk region) reports that it intends to participate in a tender to supply 550 km of coiled wire entanglement and 550 km of 4-layer linear entanglement of reinforced barbed wire. Total cost of products to be supplied by the winner is $9 million.
The company has not disclosed the host of the tender, but in Kuwait it will be represented by an Odessa businessmen Nidam Ali Lamari. Ukrainian barbed wire will compete with Russian products supplied, most probably, by middlemen as well.
According to the representatives of the company, this is the first time that Ukrainian barbed wire is supplied to Kuwait. Previously local customers have bought Russian wire. But now Arabian middlemen try to purchase these products in Ukraine. The Stakhanov-based company optimistically views its Near East prospects and prepares one of the workshops to produce rolled reinforced coiled barbed entanglement and reinforced barbed wire.
After putting the new capacities to work, the ¡°Kaiman¡±, LLC will triple its capacities in this sector to 80 km, that would greatly exceed the home market requirements. (Ukrainian Metal)

The ¡°Sinelnikovskaya teploizolyatsiya¡±, JSC (Dniepropetrovsk region) intends to supply its products to the Austria-based Rath AG. Rath AG owns a refractory manufacture and sales network in Austria, USA, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, and is considered one of the largest refractory materials manufacturer in the world.
Soft heat insulation is not popular in Ukraine ¨C here people prefer refractory brick, asbestos or mineral cotton. Yet the USSR has left Ukraine capacities at least twice as large as the current consumption ¨C at the Seversk dolomite integrated works (¡°Izosev¡±, CJSC, Donetsk region) and at the above-mentioned ¡°Sinelnikovskaya teploizolyatsiya¡±, JSC (founded on the base of the ¡°Sinelnokovo plant of wall materials¡±, JSC). Presumably, orientation of one of the companies to Europe would lower competition on the home market, in case, of course, volumes of supplies are large.
Consumption of asbestos refractories in the EU countries is restricted by legislation, and the use of fibrous heat insulation is widely spread. Taking into account the existing deposits of raw materials for soft refractories and sales network in Ukraine, this manufacture for Europe could result in good income. (Ukrainian Metal)

Shareholders of the ¡°Poltavskiy mining-metallurgical integrated works, JSC¡± plan to erect the ¡°Vorsklastal¡± plant with capacity of 3 million tones of slabs per year. The new plant will be constructed near the ¡°Poltavskiy mining-metallurgical integrated works, JSC¡±.
The project is in the initial stage, and will be carried out in 2006-2008. The project is developed by Siemens/VAI (Austria) and Midrex (USA). Information about investments is not disclosed.
The ¡°Poltavskiy mining-metallurgical integrated works, JSC¡± also takes part in the construction of the plant. Its share in the new plant is expected to be of small size.
Participation of other owners in the construction of the plant will be proportional to their shares in the ¡°Poltavskiy mining-metallurgical integrated works, JSC¡±. (Ukrainian Metal)

The ¡°VSMPO-Avisma¡± has purchased 100% of shares of the Sweden-based Carl Edblom titan AB, which in its turn holds the controlling block of shares of the titanium alloys pipes manufacturer ¡°CETAB-Nikopol¡± (Ukraine). This has been reported by the Swiss company.
The ¡°CETAB-Nikopol¡± plant was founded in 2001 on the basis of the pipe workshop #5 of the Nikopol pivdennotrubniy plant during its restructuring. Capacity of the plant is 360 tones of cold-deformed and 200 tones of hot-deformed pipes of titanium alloys per year.
¡°VSMPO-Avisma¡± is the main supplier of round billets. The minor shareholder of the plant with 49.9% of shares ¨C the Nikopol pivdennotrubniy plant ¨C is in the ¡°Interpipe¡± group. Carl Edblom titan AB is also the owner of the ¡°CETAB-Dnepr¡± trading house. (Ukrainian Metal)

The Switzerland-based company Ferrexpo AG, that sells pellets of Ukraine¡¯s largest pellets manufacturer ¨C the ¡°Poltavskiy mining-metallurgical integrated works, JSC¡± (Kremenchug, Poltava region) outside of Ukraine, plans to establish long-term cooperation with the major China steel companies. This has been reported by Y. Blonskaya, marketing employee of Ferrexpo.
In Ukraine Ferrexpo possesses iron ore deposits with over 18 billion tones of reserve. In 2004 the company manufactured 7.4 million tones of pellets, and by the end of 2005 plans to produce around 8 million tones. In 2006 the output is supposed to be increased by at least 1 million tones.
Over 90% of the Poltava mining-metallurgical integrated works products are exported, mainly to Europe. 85% of exports go to Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, ex-Yugoslavia countries, Italy and Hungary.
¡°By the end of 2005 Ferrexpo plans to have supplied 1 million tones of pellets to China, currently over 750 thousand tones have been supplied¡±, - says Y. Blonskaya. She also states that in 2005 the company has been working with Chinese consumers on the basis of spot contracts.
¡°Our company strives to conclude contracts with Chinese partners for 5-10 years, and that is being negotiated now¡±, - explains the representative of the company. (Ukrainian Metal)

By the end of the year, the Austrian-Ukrainian holding Hares Group and the Japanese Kobe Steel will have signed an agreement to build up-to-date iron ore processing works in Ukraine. According to the president of Hares Group, Kobe Steel has already submitted license agreements for iron ore procession techniques ¡°Itmk3¡±. ¡°This technique is the future of the metallurgical industry, it is iron of the new generation, iron of the future¡±, - says the president.
Currently such a project is being put into operation in the USA. ¡°This is the first commercial project of this type. But we have to copy this project in Ukraine, in Russia, in Kazakhstan ¨C where the raw materials are available on the spot¡±, - says the president.
He has also noted that now it is more profitable to sell ready-made product, than iron ore. The ¡°Itmk3¡± iron ore procession technique allows to obtain iron-containing ingots with 97% of iron content. This will give the metal manufacturers a new material that might be used instead of metal scrap. Thus the manufacturers will get more qualitative raw materials and their energy expenses would be lower. (Ukrainian Metal)

Commenting on the results of the ¡°Krivorozhstal¡± privatization auction, a Mittal Steel representative has said, that now the metallurgical empire is interested in acquiring Ukrainian coking coal mines. (Ukrainian Metal)

During the meeting with the Prime-minister of Ukraine Yuri Yekhanurov the Mittal Steel president Lakshmi Mittal announced about his intentions to take part in the privatization of the Krivoy Rog mining-metallurgical integrated works of oxidized ores.
Lakshmi Mittal said to the Ukrainian journalists, that he did have a conversation with the Ukrainian Prime-minister about solving privatization problems in Ukraine. According to him, ¡°Krivorozhstal¡± was the first object of clear privatization, that would bring Ukrainian budget a lot of money.
Construction of the Krivoy Rog mining-metallurgical integrated works of oxidized ores began in 1985. After the collapse of the USSR, the owner of the integrated works became Ukraine with the share in the project of 56.4%, Romania with 28% and Slovakia with the rest. $200 million are needed to finish construction and put the first line in operation. The cost of construction is $2.4 billion, $1.65 billion has been acquired. Capacity of the integrated works is 10 million tones of pellets, and capacity of the first complex ¨C 6.6 million tones.
Within 10 years after the construction of the integrated works, Ukraine (or the investor after the tender) will have to supply 17 million tones of pellets to Slovakia, and 30 million tones to Romania. Raw materials will be acquired at disposal areas of the Yuzhniy and Novokrivorozhskiy mining-metallurgical integrated works, as well as the Valyavkivskoye deposit with 800 million tones of low-iron content ore. (Ukrainian Metal)

The antimonopoly committee of Ukraine has allowed the ¡°Ukrainian mining-metallurgical company, LLC¡± to concentrate by gaining control over the GCB ¡°Centrostal-Bydgoszcz¡± Joint-stock company (Poland). This company specializes in manufacture of construction materials and metal wares.
The Ukrainian mining-metallurgical company was founded in March, 1998. In 2000 the company moved to regional markets of metal wares, and later ¨C to markets of construction materials. (Ukrainian Metal)

Mittal Steel Company N.V., ("Mittal Steel") the world's largest and most global steel company, announces that it has agreed to acquire a 93.02% stake in the capital of KryvorizhStal ("the Company") from the State Property Fund of Ukraine following a public auction.
Under the terms of the share purchase agreement, Mittal Steel will acquire 3,590,038,755 shares of the share capital of the Company for a total consideration of UAH 24.2 billion (US$4.79 billion*). The transaction will be financed out of Mittal Steel's own cash resources and credit lines. In addition to its existing liquidity lines and cash balances, Mittal Steel last week signed a US$3 billion loan agreement with Citigroup with terms similar to its US$3.2 billion revolving credit facility.
KryvorizhStal is the largest carbon steel long products producer in Ukraine and the nearby region with 2004 liquid steel production of 7.7 million tons and 2004 shipments of 6.7 million tons. It also produced 17.1 million tons of iron-ore. The Company had sales of US$1,897 million, EBITDA of US$551 million, EBIT of US$505 million and net income of US$378 million in 2004. The EBITDA margin was 29% in 2004. The net cash position was US$413 million as at 30
June 2005.
This transaction marks another key milestone for Mittal Steel¡¯s business in Eastern Europe, which is an integral part of its European and global strategy. KryvorizhStal is a low-cost production platform with a strategic location, at the heart of a strong growth market.
KryvorizhStal operates a single integrated steel plant located within a large iron ore mining complex (over a billon tonnes of iron ore reserves) assuring 90% of the company's requirements at low mining costs. KryvorizhStal is also almost self-sufficient in coke and is predominantly supplied by nearby coal mines. 80% of the total sales are exported through major ports only.
400kms away from the plant, benefiting from a good rail transportation network. Kryvorizhstal has been modernizing its facilities and has already received ISO 9001 Quality Accreditation. Finally, KryvorizhStal today has a 10 million tons crude steel capacity, but only 6 million tons of rolling capacity. This creates attractive debottlenecking opportunities with additional capacity that can be easily leveraged within Mittal Steel Company. Thus KryvorizhStal has ahigh strategic value for Mittal Steel.
As a result of the transaction, Mittal Steel will be in a position to provide the Company with technical production support, procurement assistance, sales and marketing support and management knowledge sharing. Mittal Steel believes that the synergies and future opportunities generated by the transaction will enhance long-term value for our shareholders.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Closing of the transaction is expected to be before year-end. UBS Investment Bank is acting as financial advisor to Mittal Steel on this transaction.
Commenting, Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO, Mittal Steel, said:
¡°Strategically this is a key acquisition for Mittal Steel Company, as it provides us with a large size low-cost production platform in a core and fast growing market. KryvorizhStal is a high quality steel and mining asset and we are confident that we can help the company expand further by providing our marketing, procurement and technological knowledge and expertise.
KryvorizhStal is today a good quality asset. We are excited about the prospects of accelerating its growth.
¡°KryvorizhStal could over the years become our largest steel plant in the region and offers significant flexibility regarding the development of its product range. KryvorizhStal will add valuable mining reserves to the group. Overall, we expect to generate over US$200 million of pre-tax synergies by the end of 2006.
¡°The transaction is value creating for our investors as KryvorizhStal enhances the growth profile and the profitability of Mittal Steel. The transaction is expected to be earnings enhancing from year one and will generate attractive return on capital.
¡°We are looking forward to starting the integration of KryvorizhStal within our company. We have a proven track record in successfully managing operations in the region and will initiate promptly a best-practice sharing programme.
¡°We are also looking forward to making an impact on the community. Our ambition is to become the world's most admired steel company and we pride ourselves in being socially responsible. We will provide support to social, sport, educational activities in addition to improving the environment.
¡°In summary, we are convinced that Mittal Steel is the best partner for KryvorizhStal and for Ukraine and we are looking forward to welcoming it within our group.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on current expectations whereas actual results may differ. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ are the risk factors listed in Mittal Steel's most recent SEC filings.
About Mittal Steel
Mittal Steel is the world¡¯s largest and most global steel company. The company has operations in fourteen countries, on four continents. Mittal Steel encompasses all aspects of modern steelmaking, to produce a comprehensive portfolio of both flat and long steel products to meet a wide range of customer needs. It serves all the major steel consuming sectors, including automotive, appliance, machinery and construction. For 2004, Mittal Steel had revenues of US$22.2 billion and steel shipments of 42.1 million tons. The Company trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext Amsterdam under the ticker symbol ¡°MT¡±. * Assumes on exchange rate of US$1 = UAH 5.05 (Mittal Steel/

Half of blast furnaces belonging to metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine need major repair with equipment modernization. This has been reported by Vasiliy Kharakhulakh, CEO of the manufacturing-economic enterprise ¡°Metallurgprom¡±.
According to him, in 2005 metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine list 44 blast furnaces with capacity to produce 44.1 million tones of pig iron. Now only 35 blast furnaces with total capacity of 35.3 million tones of pig iron per year are running.
Vasiliy Kharakhulakh has noted that 8 blast furnaces are being reconstructed, and one is in reserve. ¡°Of 35 operating blast furnaces 16 have depleted their operating life after their last overhaul. Of those 16, 8 blast furnaces have exceeded the allowed pig iron output and require immediate repair.¡± (Ukrainian Metal)

Ukraine will incorporate a new technique of manufacturing pure molybdenum of molybdenum concentrate. This technique has been developed by the Armenian scientific-manufacturing company ¡°Arev¡± (¡°Sun¡±). According to Gagik Martoyan, the CEO of the company, the new technique also allows to turn industrial wastes into sodium sulphide, that also enjoys a demand.
Presently Ukraine builds a plant to manufacture molybdenum of concentrate. It is planned that next year the Armenian party will start incorporating the new technique, and in 1.5 years the plant will be ready for operation. The technique will be incorporated on the basis of modules. On the first stage it is planned to incorporate three modules, each one with the capacity to process 1 ton of molybdenum concentrate per day. Preliminary cost of contract is $6 million. (Ukrainian Metal).

The Ukrainian state scientific-manufacturing enterprise ¡°Zirconii¡± intends to increase its zirconium tetra fluoride output in 2005, in comparison with 2004, by around 60% - to 120 tones. The plant renewed production of this product at the end of 2003 and in 2004 manufactured 75 tones having the capacities to produce 220 tones per year.
Zirconium tetra fluoride is supplied for electric-chemical reduction to the Russia-based ¡°Cherepovetsk mechanical plant, JSC¡±. By 2010 the enterprise intends to have mastered the production of zirconium pipes for heat-generating units. Demand for such products is 150 tones.
¡°Zirconii¡± has been put into operation as a second zirconium-manufacturing base in the USSR. (Ukrainian Metal)

According to analysts of Cantor Fitzgerald, final price of the ¡°Krivorozhstal¡± 93.02% of shares could amount to $3 billion. World major steel companies ¨C Mittal Steel and Arcelor ¨C want to get to the developing markets in order to expand manufacturing capacities and strengthen their positions as to raw materials suppliers and final product consumers. Not even Ukraine¡¯s political instability and ¡°Krivorozhstal¡± ownership disputes would stop Mittal Steel and Arcelor, say the analysts.
As has been reported, representatives of Mittal Steel and Arcelor have officially confirmed their intentions to participate in sales of 93.02% of the ¡°Krivorozhstal¡± shares. (Ukrainian Metal)

The world¡¯s second largest steel manufacturer Arcelor SA (Luxembourg) and the ¡°Industrial Union of Donbass¡± corporation (IUD, Donetsk, Ukraine) have come to an agreement to jointly participate in privatization of ¡°Krivorozhstal¡±. In order to carry out joint projects, the IUD and Arcelor SA intend to make an alliance on the basis of the ¡°Industrial Group¡± consortium, that manages the IUD assets.
As has been reported earlier, in order to decrease its expenses Arcelor SA wanted to increase the share of its non-European capacities from the current 25% to 50%, by expanding its manufacturing base in China, Brazil, Argentina, India, Russia and Ukraine. In particular, the company is considering purchase of shares of the iron ore manufacturing companies in India, Russia and Ukraine. This year Arcelor SA has already purchased plants of the Poland-based Huta Lucchini Warsawa and Italy-based metallurgical company Lucchini SpA.
According to the Anti-monopoly committee of Ukraine, Arcelor hasn¡¯t had any business activities in Ukraine by that time. (Ukrainian Metal)

U.S.-based Alcoa World Alumina LLC Company, the world's largest aluminium and aluminium alloy producer, is interested in constructing a primary aluminium plant in Ukraine with a capacity of 300 thousand tones per year - on the condition that it is guaranteed electricity supplies at the fixed price of 1.5-1.7 cents per 1 kWh for at least 30 years.
Alcoa will act on the project through UkrElectroMetallurgic Company Ltd. (UEMK), created in 2001 and specializing in development of scientific-technical and manufacturing projects in the field of non-ferrous metallurgy, as well as export-import and trade transactions with non-ferrous rolled metals.
Currently UEMK and Alcoa prepare an agreement on constructing a pilot plant in Ukraine to produce silicoaluminium of local natural aluminosilicates by direct reduction in smelting-heat-treatment furnaces. Investments would amount to $5 million.
Alcoa is also interested in construction and operation of the primary aluminium plant. The plant would be constructed in one of the Ukrainian regions by the sea with developed power structure. Such a choice for the plant location is obvious, as the power consumption of the plant would amount to 4500 mWh per year. Alumina ¨C the main raw materials for aluminium manufacture ¨C will be supplied form abroad.
Russia-based ¡°Russian aluminium¡± (RUSAL) is also interested in constructing an aluminium plant in Ukraine. During the privatization of the Nikolaev alumina plant, JSC, RUSAL wanted to construct such a plant with a capacity of 100 thousand tones per year. RUSAL would have constructed this plant given it would have been guaranteed power supplies at 1.1 cents per 1 kWh on a long-term basis.
Currently the only manufacturer of primary aluminium in Ukraine is the Zaporozhye aluminium plant, JSC, with the capacity of 100 thousand tones per year. In 2004 the Russia-based ?Group SUAL?, one of the world¡¯s ten largest aluminium companies, bought the Zaporozhye aluminium plant. Lately power has been supplied to the company at 3.58 cents per 1 kWh, resulting in a sharp increase of its share in the aluminium manufacture prime cost ¨C to 42%. Taking this into account primary aluminium is produced with zero cost effectiveness. (Ukrainian Metal)

The Khartsyzsk Tube Plant has negotiated with the largest Japan steel company Nippon Steel on deliveries of strips for the new project. The single-seam pipes might help the company keep its position on the market after several Russian works started manufacturing this new product.
At the beginning of the year the plant had a tender for the main supplier of equipment to produce single-seam pipes with 530-420 mm diameter and 32-34 mm wall thickness. Haeusler AG (Switzerland) was the winner. Construction of the new line will begin this year; its capacity would be 200 thousand tones of pipes per year. Total cost of the project is $25 million. The line will be put into operation at the end of the next year.
So Khartsyzsk will soon be technologically able to produce single-seam pipes. But this project has one drawback: uncertainty as to strip suppliers. Ukraine simply doesn¡¯t produce the plate of the size necessary. This resulted in negotiations with Nippon Steel. Technical, not commercial part of cooperation has been discussed. But details have not been revealed. Most probably negotiations would be about deliveries of plate to produce single-seam pipe with 1220 mm diameter that is to be manufactured on the first stage of the new equipment operation. (Ukrainian Metal)

Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises are diversifying metal products deliveries as they have been partially driven out of the South-Eastern Asia by Chinese exporters. This has been reported by Sergey Grischenko, deputy minister of industrial politics. According to him, the density of Chinese market in Ukrainian export structure has decreased more than twice ¨C from 7.7% in 2004 to 3.7% in January-July 2005.
¡°Ukrainian deliveries are being driven out of the South-Eastern Asia markets as the result of increase in Chinese export. This has been compensated by the increase of Ukrainian export to Africa and South-Western Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan)¡±, - says the deputy minister.
He has also noted that export to South-Eastern Asia has fallen from 16.7% to 10.5%.
According to Sergey Grischenko, during 7 months of 2005 18.7% of Ukrainian rolled metal have been exported to African countries, 15.3% - to Europe, 13% - to the EU, 14.9% - to the Near East, 10.8% - to the CIS, 6.8% - to the South-Western Asia, 5.2% - to North America, 3.7% - to China, 1% - to South America.
The deputy minister has noted that according to experts in 2006 and 2007 there would be no important changes on the metal markets.
He has also said that 2008-2009 could be crucial for the metallurgical branch due to the high prices for metal products, as customers would seek alternative materials at lower prices.
The deputy minister has also said that this year deliveries of Ukrainian enterprises are expected at 25.5 million tones (26.6 million tones in 2004), and rolled metal sales on domestic market would rise to 8.2 million tones (7.54 million tomes in 2004). (Ukrainian Metal)

The Danieli Corporation, metallurgical equipment manufacturer (Italy), began working on the continuous billets casting machine and the equipment for extra-furnace steel processing ¡°furnace-bucket¡± for the Dniepropetrovsk metallurgical plant named after Petrovski. This is the information of Danieli with the reference to the contract concluded with the plant.
According to this contract, Danieli is to manufacture the ¡°furnace-bucket¡± machine and the 6 grooves continuous billets casting machine for the DMP named after Petrovski.
The ¡°furnace-bucket¡± with two bucket trolleys and 14 MVA transformer would decrease the steel processing time to less than 25 minutes. The continuous billets casting machine with the basic radius of 9 meters, project capacity of 1 million tones of steel per year would manufacture square billets with section of 100-200 mm.
Automated control system for the ¡°furnace-bucket¡± and the casting machine will be supplied by Danieli Automation, a part of Danieli.
In 2004 the DMP named after Petrovski began preliminary works for constructing the complex of continuous steel casting. Earlier the ¡°Privat Intertrading¡° company has estimated the cost of this construction at 240 million UAH. (Ukrainian Metal).

The Khartsyzsk Tube Works (KTW, Donetsk region), the largest in the CIS-countries manufacturer of large-diameter tubes for pipelines, is to negotiate the purchase of an edge-milling machine from Linsinger Austria Maschinenbau GmbH. This has been reported by Andrei Shishatskiy, CEO of the KTW.
Total cost of the project (manufacture of the machine and delivery to the KTW) is around €2 million.
The Linsinger edge-milling machine will be setup in the large-diameter single-sealed tubes line which is planned to be put into operation in 2006. ¡°The Linsinger machine will be the major part of the head piece of the line¡±, - says Alexander Kravtsov, strategy and investment director of the KTW.
The edge-milling machine is used for machining longitudinal edges of steel sheets.
The Khartsyzsk Tube Works intends to invest $25 million in the new line of large-diameter pipes in 2005-2006. Main equipment for the new line will be supplied by Haeusler AG (Switzerland). The line with capacity of 200 thousand tons of pipes per year is scheduled to be put into operation in the 4th quarter of 2006. The line would manufacture single-sealed 12-meter long pipes with 711-1420 mm diameter and up to 40 mm wall thickness of X70 category steel. (Ukrainian Metal).

The ¡°Krivoy Rog Iron Ore Complex¡±, JSC intends on returning to the export markets of Romania, Austria, Bulgaria and Italy. According to some representatives of the company, sales of Krivoy Rog ore to China have also been taken into consideration.
Special attention is given to cooperation with Russia, in particular with the Magnitogorsk metallurgical complex. Its representatives have visited the Krivoy Rog Iron Ore Complex and have decided to continue business cooperation.
The Krivoy Rog Iron Ore Complex had to take such actions (return to export markets) due to decrease in traditional sales markets, as well as expansion of world ore manufacturers (from Brazil, South Africa, Canada, Sweden, Venezuela, etc.) on some Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises, say the representatives of the company.
The Krivoy Rog Iron Ore Complex (formerly ¨C Krivbassruda) mines ore using the underground mining method. Its annual output is over 6 million tones of iron ore raw materials. The following mines are in the Krivoy Rog Iron Ore Complex¡¯s structure: ¡°named after Ilyich¡±, ¡°Gvardeiskaya¡±, ¡°Oktyabrskaya¡±, ¡°Rodina¡±, ¡°Bolshevik¡±.
In 2004 its net profits amounted to 36.3 million UAH. The regulations fund of the JSC is 740.770 million UAH. (Ukrainian Metal).

The Ministry of Economics of Mexico has imposed antidumping duties of 37-68% on the import of all types of carbon steel from Ukraine, Russia and Romania. The investigation began in October, 2002.
During the investigation period import volumes increased by 227%, which is higher than it is permitted by the rules of international trade, and also damages Mexican metallurgists.
¡°Domestic prices, during active imports, decreased by 2.4%, sale volumes of Mexican manufacturers decreased by 8%¡±, - reports the Ministry of Economics.
Difference between prime cost and sale cost for Roman products has been appointed at 120.5%, for Russian ¨C 36.8%, for Ukrainian ¨C 60.1%.
The antidumping duties for the Russian import have been appointed at 36.8%, for Ukrainian ¨C 60.1%, and for Romanian ¨C 67.6% (including products of Ispat Sidex SA ¨C works, belonging to the Mexican subdivision of Mittal Steel).
The import from Russia, Romania and Ukraine correspondingly amounted to 6%, 23% and 22% of the total volume of import to Mexico during the investigation period.
It is not the first time when Mexico imposes antidumping duties on steel from Russia and Ukraine. In 1999 a 20% duty was imposed on Russian hot-rolled steel, and a 47% duty was imposed on steel from Ukraine.
The duties are brought into effect immediately. When these are brought into effect, this would positively affect Mexican manufacturers, in particular, Altos Hornos de Mexico SA (one of the largest national manufacturers of alloyed steel). (Ukrainian Metal).

In August Ukraine decreased its steel output by 7.7% in comparison with the same period in 2004 ¨C to 3.098 million tones, and occupied the 8th place in the rating of 61 countries ¨C major world steel manufacturers, according to the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI).
In 2001-2004 Ukraine held the 7th place in the world rating of steel manufacture.
IISI has compiled the list of 80 largest steel manufacturers, based on the 2004 results. The following Ukrainian companies are in this list: Krivorozhskiy mining-metallurgical complex ¡±Krivorozhstal¡± (30th place in the world rating, output ¨C 7.1 million tones), Mariupol metallurgical complex named after Ilyich, JSC (33rd, 6.9 million tones), Metallurgical complex ¡°Azovstal¡±, JSC (42nd, 5.7 million tones), Zaporozhye metallurgical complex ¡°Zaporozhstal¡±, JSC (56th, 4.5 million tones), Alchevsk metallurgical complex (Lugansk region, 67th, 3.8 million tones).
IISI has also compiled the list of major countries ¨C steel exporters based on the results of 2003. According to this list, Ukraine is among the 10 first countries (26.6 million tones). (Ukrainian Metal).

The Danieli-Froehling company (Germany), a part of the Danieli corporation, has produced a slitting line for cold-rolled strips for the ¡°Zaporizhstal¡± metallurgical complex. This has been reported by Danieli. The line will be used to process strips of up to 1550 mm width and thickness between 0.4-2.5 mm. According to the report, with this line ¡°Zaporizhstal¡± will considerably increase output and quality of its cold-rolled strips. (Ukrainian Metal).

The Zaporozhye ferroalloys works put into operation the manufacture of ferrosiliconaluminium, which consists of aluminium (15-20%) and silicon (50-70%). This transfer of ZFW to ferrosiliconaluminium manufacture is connected with the product¡¯s high payback under conditions of the ever increasing tariffs for state monopolies services, in particular, railroad transportation, energy, etc.
¡°Marketing researches have shown that the new product, used in manufacture of steel of various grades, including the automobile grade, would enjoy a stable demand on the market,¡± ¨C says the Ukrainian association of ferroalloys and other electronic-metallurgical wares manufacturers. ¡°Mariupol metallurgical complex named after Ilyich¡±, JSC,
¡±Zaporozhstal¡±, JSC, as well as some foreign metallurgical enterprises are among the prospective consumers of this products.
In the meantime ZFW is concluding contracts for the new product supplies. (Ukrainian Metal).

On September, 19, shareholders of the metallurgical complex ¡°Azovstal¡± and the by-product coke enterprise ¡°Marcohim¡±, JSC, voted for consolidation of the companies. According to a representative of one of the companies, positive votes were given by over 95% of the ¡°Azovstal¡± shareholders and over 93% of the ¡°Marcohim¡± shareholders.
Agendas of shareholders meetings both at ¡°Azovstal¡± and ¡°Marcohim¡± included (on initiative of the ¡°System Capital Management¡±, CJSC) the matter of the by-product coke enterprise joining the metallurgical complex. After making decision on consolidation the ¡°Marcohim¡± shareholders will be able to exchange their shares for the ¡°Azovstal¡± shares. Managers of the ¡°System Capital Management¡±, CJSC, a major management company in Ukraine, predict increase in the cost of assets after consolidation.
¡°We would like to address all the counter parties ¨C all the conditions of contracts concluded will be fulfilled¡±, - says Igor Syryi, the SCM top-manager. (Ukrainian Metal).

The ¡°Azovstal¡± metallurgical complex began using the sinter ore, supplied to the company from Brazil in 90 thousand tones according to the contract with the Cia Vale de Rio Doce (CVRD) company. This was reported by Alexei Beliy, the CEO of the complex.
By today the enterprise will have been working for a week with the Brazilian ore. According to A. Beliy, while the prime cost of sinter from Ukrainian sinter ore is 240 UAH/ton, its cost using Brazilian sinter ore is higher ¨C 308 UAH/ton.
¡°The prime cost of sinter from Brazilian sinter ore is 68 UAH higher, but the rate of iron ore consumption in the blast furnace is lower, volumes of metal products output are higher, and the decrease in coke consumption is anticipated¡±, he said.
The CEO added, that the contract with CVRD had been concluded in March, but the first supply was only now. A. Beliy noted that this lot was a trial one, and the company would analyze the efficiency of using this option in case sinter ore prices on the home market increased.
According to A. Beliy, now prices for sinter ore in Ukraine have decreased, in particular, the Krivoy Rog iron-ore combine sells it at 17 UAH/ton, without VAT and railroad tariff. (Ukrainian Metal).

ThyssenKrupp Services set up its own materials warehousing business in Ukraine with the establishment of ThyssenKrupp Materials Ukraine TOV, which has started operations in Kiev, possibly in cooperation with a Ukrainian partner.
In the start-up phase, the focus will be on stainless steels. Plans are in place to expand business in the near future to include the full range, from carbon steel and tubes to nonferrous metals.
According to ThyssenKrupp Services Executive Board member Joachim Limberg, ¡°the Ukrainian economy is growing faster than average. We believe the country provides a good market for our proven concept of supplying ¡°materials from a single source¡±. It is important for us to build up a strong partnership in Ukraine. In the next three years we aim to achieve sales of 20 million euros and employ up to 100 people.¡±
Background
Eastern Europe is an attractive growth market for ThyssenKrupp Services, which already has companies in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia generating sales well in excess of 400 million euros and employing over 1,000 people. Negotiations on joint ventures are currently in progress in several other countries.
The Ukrainian market has to date been served via imports from Poland. With annual sales of 250 million and 600 employees, Polish subsidiary ThyssenKrupp Energostal S.A is ThyssenKrupp Services¡¯ biggest Eastern European company. A nationwide sales and warehouse network has been established in Poland, and a major new central warehouse is currently being built near Katowice. (Ukrainian Metal).

The mining-metallurgical complex Krivorozhstal intends to make the antidumping measures against its rolled wire supplies to the USA canceled.
The complex intends to submit to the US Department of Commerce a request for administrative revision of current sanctions in order to restore the supply of the rolled wire.
For this purpose, for the help in the revision process the complex has called for the American law company Aitken Irvin Berlin & Vrooman, representing Ukrainian exporters in the US antidumping investigations.
Nowadays Krivorozhstal is preparing for the preliminary antidumping independent accounting.
In October 2002 the USA finished the antidumping investigation against rolled wire import from Ukraine, which resulted in additional import levy of 116.3% of the customs cost being introduced on the supply of this product.
Now Krivorozhstal doesn¡¯t export to the US.
In May Krivorozhstal asked the Cabinet of Ministers to help restore the Ukrainian rolled wire and reinforced bars export to US and Canada. (Ukrainian Metal)

Beginning with August 16th Ukraine¡¯s state mines decrease prices for coking coal by 18%. According to the Ministry of the Fuel Energy of Ukraine, if the price decrease results in increase of coal purchases by Ukrainian by-product coke and metallurgical enterprises, the government will not impose quotas on import of Russian coal.
Ukraine¡¯s coal market is estimated at $6 bln. per year. In the six months of 2005 Ukraine mined 38.8 mln. t of coal, including 21.9 mln. t of energy coal and 16.9 mln. t of coking coal. In the first half-year of 2005 Ukraine imported from Poland and Russia 5.7 mln. t of coal (99% of this was coking coal) and exported 2.75 mln. t of coal fuel. State mines have 70% of all the coking coal output. The largest purchasers of coal in Ukraine are Krivorozhstal, Markohim, Zaporozhkoks, Avdeyevka and Alchevsk by-product coke plants.
According to the experts, after the price reduction the cost of Ukrainian coking coal would almost equal its Russian counterpart. Now the cost of Ukrainian coking coal is $120-125/t, while the imported coal costs $90-95. After the reduction, a ton of Ukrainian coal would cost about $98. (Ukrainian Metal)