In January-April of this year, Ukraine reduced exports of titanium-containing ores and concentrates in physical terms by 91.4% compared to the same period last year, to 277 tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Friday, in monetary terms, exports of titanium-containing ores and concentrates decreased by 90.6% to $496 thousand.
The main exports went to Uzbekistan (35.61% of shipments in monetary terms), Turkey (35.01%), and Egypt (29.38%).
In the first five months of 2025, Ukraine imported 24 tons of titanium-containing ore worth $39,000 from China (94.87%, deliveries took place in January) and Uzbekistan (5.13%, deliveries took place in May).
In addition, in the first five months of 2025, Ukraine exported 1,099 tons of niobium, tantalum, vanadium, and zirconium ores and concentrates worth $1.704 million to Spain (61.22%), Italy (17.65%), and Germany (11.17%). to Spain ($1.704 million, 61.22%), Italy ($1.06 million, 17.65%), and Germany ($100,000, 11.17%). At the same time, the country imported 104 tons of such ores worth $258 thousand from Spain (55.17%), China (28.66%), and the Czech Republic (11.85%).
As reported, in 2024, Ukraine reduced exports of titanium-containing ores in physical terms by 37.5% compared to the previous year, to 7,284 tons. In monetary terms, exports of titanium-containing ores and concentrates decreased by 40% to $11.654 million. The main exports were to Turkey (62.82% of shipments in monetary terms), Egypt (7.38%), and Poland (6.93%).
In 2024, Ukraine imported 314 tons of titanium-containing ore worth $492 thousand from China (87.78%), Vietnam (6.11%), and Senegal (also 6.11%).
At the same time, experts pointed to discrepancies in statistics on exports of titanium-containing ores.
However, in response to a request from Interfax-Ukraine, the State Customs Service (SCS) of Ukraine reported that complete data on exports of titanium raw materials is not provided due to restrictions on the volume of export and import operations with military and dual-use goods, which are reflected in aggregate form under “Other goods.”
They explained that, in particular, deliveries of titanium-containing ores from companies differ from the SCS data.
“We would like to inform you that these deliveries are included in the statistical exports from Ukraine, but are not reflected in the foreign trade statistics published by the State Customs Service (…) under commodity code 2614 ”Titanium ores and concentrates” in view of the following (…) In accordance with the provisions (…) when protecting data for confidentiality purposes, any information considered confidential shall be reported in full at the next higher level of product data aggregation,” the State Customs Service explained in its response to the agency.
It was clarified that information on customs clearance and movement across the customs border of Ukraine of goods subject to export control is included in the list of information containing official information in the State Customs Service, in accordance with the relevant order.
In Ukraine, titanium-containing ores are currently mined mainly by PJSC United Mining and Chemical Company (OGHK), which manages the Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovsk region) and the Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGZK, Zhytomyr region), as well as LLC “Mezhirichensky GZK” and LLC “Valky-Ilmenit” (both LLCs are located in Irshansk, Zhytomyr region). In addition, the production and commercial firm Velta (Dnipro) built a mining and processing plant at the Birzulivskoye deposit with a capacity of 240,000 tons of ilmenite concentrate per year.
