Sunday, January 07, 2007

Energy efficiency - steelmaking in Ukraine

As Russia has imposed massive increases in natural gas export prices in recent years, so the price paid by steelmakers in the Ukraine has jumped from $50 per 1,000 cubic metre in 2005 to $130 today.

Yet the price increase - which would normally be sufficient to cripple profitability in most steelmaking firms - has strangely enough driven a process of restructuring which according to industry commentators has actually left the Ukrainian steel industry in better shape.

The increases in energy costs have according to a report in the Miami Herald, driven modernisation and investment, forced a general move away from gas to coal [which is abundant in Ukraine] and two years on left a steel industry that is far more self-sufficient and independent of energy prices otherwise controlled by Moscow.

For original report, see http://www.thatsracin.com/mld/miamiherald/business/16387034.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_business

blogger@steelonthenet.com

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