In January-July of this year, Ukraine reduced exports of titanium-containing ores and concentrates in physical terms by 93.6% compared to the same period last year, to 277 tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, in monetary terms, exports of titanium-containing ores and concentrates decreased by 93.1% to $496 thousand.
The main exports were to Uzbekistan (35.61% of shipments in monetary terms), Turkey (35.01%), and Egypt (29.38%).
In addition, Ukraine imported 24 tons of titanium-containing ores worth $39 thousand from China (94.87%, deliveries took place in January) and Uzbekistan (5.13%, deliveries took place in May) in the first seven months of 2025.
In addition, in the first seven months of 2025, Ukraine exported 2,466 tons of niobium, tantalum, vanadium, and zirconium ores and concentrates worth $3.954 million to Spain (48.90%), Germany (24.53%), and Italy (17.19%). At the same time, the country imported 294 tons of such ores worth $774 thousand from Spain (67.35%), China (17.16%), and the Czech Republic (12.13%).
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 thousand 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%).
Last year, 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 (DMS) of Ukraine stated 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 the UKTZED commodity code 2614 ”Titanium ores and concentrates” due to 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 (UMCC), 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 Mezhyrichensky 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.