KIEV, Oct. 23 - Ukrainian metal traders increased sales by 45.1% year-on-year to 2.181 million tons in the first nine months of 2007, Ukrainian Metal Traders Association president Andriy Fedoseyev told Interfax.

The leading traders were the Metinvest group's Leman-Ukraine with 302,037 tons; Industrial Union of Donbas' (IUD) Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company with 221,483 tons; Zaporizhstal-related MD Group and Zaporizhmetallholding with respectively 143,059 tons ad 57,980 tons; and independent traders Komex with 135,518 tons, Vikant with 81,842 tons, Transagency with 63,184 tons and Kaskad with 47,797 tons.