In January of this year, ferrous metal scrap trading companies reduced their procurement of ferrous metal scrap by 18.5% to 97,100 tons from 149,000 tons.
According to data from the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals (UAVtormet), scrap collectors reduced their supplies of scrap to Ukrainian metallurgical plants by 26.7% compared to the same period last year, to 92.5 thousand tons from 126.2 thousand tons. At the same time, steel production during the same period decreased by 16.4% to 511 thousand tons from 611 thousand tons.
According to UAVtormet estimates, in the first month of the scrap export ban, more than 20-25% of companies in the industry partially suspended their operations, and another 12-15% completely stopped their activities. Experts predict that by April-May of this year, about 4-4.5 thousand workers in the scrap collection industry will lose their jobs.
As reported, according to data from the State Customs Service, Ukrainian scrap collection companies increased their exports of ferrous metal scrap by 45.3% in 2025 compared to the previous year, to 448,700 tons, and in monetary terms by 44.5%, to $131.9 million. In 2024, exports of these products increased by 60.7% in physical terms and by 73.2% in monetary terms.
Due to such a sharp increase in exports, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced a zero quota for exports of these products for 2026, whereas previously there was an export duty of EUR 180/ton, which, at the same time, was not paid when exporting to the EU, with which Ukraine has a free trade zone.
According to customs data, in January this year, Ukraine reduced exports of ferrous metal scrap by 40.7% compared to January last year, to 9.3 thousand tons, and compared to the December 2025 figure of 68.5 thousand tons, the decline was sevenfold. In monetary terms, scrap exports in January decreased by 38% compared to January 2025, to $2.73 million.
Scrap companies are trying to block and overturn the Cabinet’s decision on zero export quotas through the courts, said Dmytro Kysilevsky, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, on his Facebook page. According to him, there is a lawsuit from the company Zakhidvtorlom LLC (turnover for 9 months of 2025, according to YouControl, is UAH 170.5 million) and the public association Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals and Resources, whose founders include many heavyweight scrap exporters.
The deputy chairman of the committee insists that the activities of scrap exporters are harmful to the state because they reduce the amount of raw materials available to metallurgists in Ukraine.
Kysilevsky also claims that there is a scrap export scheme whereby an importer in the EU is listed instead of the actual importer outside the EU, which allows customs duties to be avoided. He estimates the state’s losses from such a scheme in 2025 at UAH 3.5 billion. The deputy recalled that protests against the introduction of a zero quota were also expressed by the Polish party “Confederation,” which, according to the deputy chairman of the committee, enjoys the support of the Kremlin.
