In January–July 2026, Ukrainian steelmakers saw their foreign exchange revenue from ferrous metal exports decline by 7.6% compared to the same period last year—to $1.678 billion from $1.816 billion.
This is according to data from the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
The share of ferrous metals in Ukraine’s total merchandise export revenue over the first seven months fell to 6.95% from 7.79% in January–July 2025, or by 0.84 percentage points.
Thus, metallurgical products continue to account for a significant portion of Ukraine’s merchandise exports, but their share is shrinking amid a decline in the sector’s foreign exchange earnings.
At the same time, imports of ferrous metals into Ukraine continued to grow. In January–July, they increased by 7.2% to $1.023 billion.
Despite the contrasting trends in exports and imports, Ukraine maintained a positive trade balance in ferrous metals of approximately $655 million over the seven-month period.
The situation with fabricated metal products deteriorated separately. Exports of these products fell by 10.8% to $507.5 million, while imports rose by 6% to $697.6 million. As a result, the foreign trade deficit in fabricated metal products stood at about $190 million.
By comparison, at the end of 2025, export revenue from ferrous metals rose by 7.85% to $3.339 billion, and their share of total merchandise exports reached 8.25%. In 2024, exports of ferrous metals increased by another 16.9%—to $3.096 billion.
Thus, after two years of growth in the metallurgical sector’s export revenues, the trend reversed in 2026: revenues are declining, while imports of ferrous metals and metal products continue to rise.
EXPORTS, FERROUS METALS, IMPORTS, METALLURGY, TRADE
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