CURRENT STATE AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS OF UKRAINE’S METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY: GUIDELINES OF TECHNOLOGICAL MODERNIZATION
Current trends in economic development indicate that the basis of the economy of many developed countries is the basic industries, including ferrous metallurgy, and its products continue to be the main construction material in the world. The authors show that the domestic metallurgical industry contributes significantly to the gross national product and foreign trade. The main source of the functioning of domestic metallurgical enterprises is the raw material base sustained by significant reserves of iron ore, coal and scrap metal. It is proved that the metallurgical industry’s priority orientation to external demand made it dependent on the conditions in the world metal products market, which today is characterized by fierce competition due to the constant growth of new production capacities. It is revealed that the main prerequisite for increasing competition in the world metal market is currently the innovative restructuring of metallurgical enterprises based on the reduction of obsolete steel production facilities and the construction of new, more compact ones for the production of high value-added end products. The authors show that, unlike developed and developing countries, Ukraine has not built any technologically new facilities (except for the Interpipe Steel plant) in the steel industry. As a result, the majority of domestic enterprises are experiencing a significant physical and moral equipment wear and tear. The use of outdated technologies in the industry is causing enormous energy intensity of environmentally harmful production and leads to inefficient consumption of fuel and energy resources, and, as a consequence, to lower competitiveness of domestic metal products. To develop domestic metallurgy in line with global trends, it is proposed to develop a list of measures for the phased modernization of production capacities, which include replacing obsolete open-hearth furnaces with new electro-metallurgical plants.