In January-February of this year, Ukrainian enterprises increased their consumption of rolled metal products by 50.47% compared to the same period last year, up to 556.7 thousand tons.
According to a press release issued by Ukrmetallurgprom on Tuesday, 207.4 thousand tons, or 37.26% of the domestic rolled metal consumption market, were imported during this period.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom, in 2 months of 2015, steel companies produced 957 thousand tons of rolled metal products (106.3% compared to the same period in 2024), of which, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, about 607.7 thousand tons, or 63.5%, were exported. In January-February 2024, the share of exports amounted to 77.9% (701.4 thousand tons with a total production of 900.2 thousand tons of rolled metal products).
The share of semi-finished products in export deliveries in January-February 2025 was 33.21%, which is significantly lower than in January-February 2024 (47.46%). The share of flat products in export deliveries in the period under review was significantly higher than in January-February last year (47.79% and 38.68%, respectively). The share of long products is also significantly higher – 19.01% vs. 13.86%, respectively.
The structure of imports in January-February 2025 is still characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products – 82.55% and 14.42%, respectively. In January-February 2024, the dominance of flat products over long products was also significant: 85.05% and 13.67%, respectively.
“In 2 months of 2025, the domestic market capacity amounted to 556.7 thousand tons of rolled steel, of which 207.4 thousand tons, or 37.26%, were imported. In January-February 2024, the domestic market capacity was 370 thousand tons, of which 171.2 thousand tons, or 46.27%, were imported. Thus, in January-February 2025, there was an increase in the domestic market capacity by 50.47% compared to January-February 2024, while the share of the import component decreased by 9.01%,” the press release states.
According to the State Customs Service, the main export markets for Ukrainian rolled metal products in the period under review were the European Union (73.8%), the rest of Europe (13.5%) and the CIS (7.7%).
Among metallurgical importers in January-February 2025, the first place was taken by other European countries (56.6%), the second by the EU-27 (24.5%), and the third by Asian countries (18.5%).
As reported, Ukraine’s rolled steel market in 2024 decreased by 6.26% year-on-year to 3 million 288.4 thousand tons, while in 2023 it increased 2.19 times compared to 2022, to 3 million 505.6 thousand tons.
