In January-May of this year, Ukrainian enterprises increased their consumption of rolled metal products by 14.5% year-on-year to 1 million 557.8 thousand tons.
According to a press release from Ukrmetallurgprom, 591.8 thousand tons, or 37.98% of the domestic rolled metal consumption market, were imported during this period.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom, in 5 months of 2015, steel companies produced 2.057 million tons of rolled steel (97.6% compared to the same period in 2024), of which, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, about 1.541 million tons, or 61.5%, were exported. In January-May 2024, the share of exports amounted to 65.4% (1.680 million tons with a total production of 2.568 million tons of rolled steel).
The share of semi-finished products in export deliveries in January-May 2025 amounted to 32.23%, which is significantly lower than in January-May 2024 (46.79%). The share of flat products in export deliveries in January-May 2025 is significantly higher than in January-May 2024 (46.59% and 40.30%, respectively). The share of long products is also significantly higher than in January-May 2024 (20.18% in 2025 vs. 12.92% in 2024).
The structure of imports in January-May 2025 is still characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products (76.83% and 21.24%, respectively); in January-May 2024, the dominance of flat products over long products was also significant (82.09% and 16.12%, respectively).
“In 5 months of 2025, the domestic market capacity amounted to 1 million 557.8 thousand tons of rolled steel, of which 591.8 thousand tons, or 37.98%, were imported. In January-May 2024, the domestic market capacity amounted to 1 million 360.8 thousand tons, of which 472.8 thousand tons, or 34.74%, were imported. Thus, in January-May 2025, there was an increase in the domestic market capacity by 14.48% compared to January-May 2024, with a simultaneous increase in the share of the import component by 3.24%,” the press release states.
According to the State Customs Service, the main export markets for Ukrainian rolled metal products in 5 months of 2025 are the European Union (82.0%), the rest of Europe (8.4%) and the CIS (6.9%).
Among metallurgical importers in January-May 2025, the first place is occupied by other European countries (57.7%), the second by the EU-27 (23.5%), and the third by Asian countries (18.3%).
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.
