KIEV, June 5 - Ukraine’s second-biggest producer of steel, Illich Steel, announced Thursday it had lost an estimated $20 million in May on the sharp appreciation of the local currency, the hryvnia, against the U.S. dollar.

The figure highlights the adverse affect of the hryvnia’s 4% appreciation against the dollar overnight on May 21 and its affect on Ukraine’s steel sector, the country’s biggest earner of hard currency.