In January-April 2025, nickel imports to Ukraine decreased by 40.9% to $5.01 million. Exports amounted to $374,000, compared to $217,000 in the same period of 2024. In April, imports amounted to $1.11 million, while exports amounted to $13,000.
Nickel is used in the production of stainless steel and for nickel plating. Nickel is also used in the production of batteries, in powder metallurgy, and in chemical reagents.
Imports, nickel
Ukraine has extended anti-dumping duties on imports of cement from Moldova, Russia, and Belarus, as well as coated rolled metal products from China and Russia, for five years. According to a statement released by the
Ministry of Economy on Thursday, the decision was made by the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade (ICIT) on May 21, 2025, following appeals from Ukrainian companies.
“If you are a manufacturer and face aggressive non-market competition, please contact the Ministry of Economy to initiate anti-dumping investigations. Ukraine adheres to the principles of openness but is ready to protect its market in accordance with WTO rules,” the release quotes First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko as saying.
As reported, in 2019, the ICIT imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of cement clinker and Portland cement to Ukraine under codes 2523 10 and 2523 29, at the following rates: 57.03% on cement from Belarus; 94.46% on cement from Moldova; 114.95% on cement from Russia. The duties were imposed for a period of five years. In May last year, at the request of Dickerhoff Cement Ukraine, Ivano-Frankivskcement, supported by
Kryvyi Rih Cement, the ICIT initiated a review of these duties, which extended their validity for up to one year.
As it became known at the conference “Trade Wars: The Art of Defense,” organized by Ilyashev & Partners in Kyiv this week, Lafarge Ciment (Moldova) SA offered voluntary price restrictions in order to return to the
Ukrainian market. Market participants called for the proposed prices to be made public.
As for imports into Ukraine of certain types of rolled steel with anti-corrosion coating originating from Russia and China, anti-dumping measures were introduced in 2019 for five years for manufacturers/exporters of goods from Russia at a rate of 47.57% and from China at a rate of 22.78%. In May last year, at the request of PJSC Mariupol Metallurgical Plant named after Ilyich and LLC Unistil, the MCMT launched a new investigation as part of a review of these duties.
BELARUS, CEMENT, CHINA, IMPORT, MOLDOVA, rolled metal, RUSSIA
Ukraine increased imports of tin and tin products to $1.17 million (+32.1%) in January-April 2025. Exports decreased by $55,000 compared to $107,000 a year earlier. In April, imports amounted to $282,000, while exports amounted to $1,000.
Tin is mainly used as a safe, non-toxic, corrosion-resistant coating in its pure form or in alloys with other metals. The main industrial applications of tin are in white tin (tin-plated iron) for the manufacture of food containers, in solders for electronics, in domestic piping, in bearing alloys, and in coatings made of tin and its alloys. The most important alloy of tin is bronze (with copper).
Ukraine has started importing gas via Slovakia, according to a Facebook post by Serhiy Makogon, former head of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator (OGTSU).
“Previously, imports came from Hungary and Poland, but the cheaper Hungarian route is already fully loaded, so suppliers are forced to buy more expensive capacity from Slovakia,” he wrote.
According to the former head of GTSOU, the average daily import is currently around 14.5 million cubic meters, but in order to accumulate 13.6 billion cubic meters by November 1, imports need to be increased by 2-3 times. At the same time, Slovakia has the largest import capacity – 42 million cubic meters per day.
As reported with reference to Makogon, in order to achieve last year’s planned targets for gas reserves in underground storage facilities (UGS), Ukraine needs to import at least 5 billion cubic meters by November 1, i.e., approximately 870 million cubic meters per month or 29 million cubic meters per day.
He noted that $2-2.5 billion is needed to import the minimum 5 billion cubic meters, of which $0.4 billion has already been provided by donors and may be provided further. At the same time, he believes that funds for gas purchases can also be found within the country, in particular from the budget through direct recapitalization of Naftogaz or through debt repayment schemes involving mutual settlements.
According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), Ukraine switched from gas withdrawal from underground storage facilities to gas injection on April 17. According to them, this season’s withdrawal lasted from November 1, when there were 87.037 TWh (8.315 billion cubic meters) in UGS facilities, and ended on April 16 at 7.062 TWh (0.675 billion cubic meters) – the lowest level in history.
GIE indicates that this year Ukraine ended the heating season with reserves at 2.22% of the maximum UGS capacity, while last year the withdrawal season ended on March 30 with reserves of 11.12 TWh (3.388 billion cubic meters), or 11.12% of the UGS capacity.
In turn, according to former Energy Minister Olga Buslavets, the total level of natural gas reserves in Ukrainian UGS facilities at the end of last week was 6.1 billion cubic meters (including 4.7 billion cubic meters of “buffer gas”), which is 31% lower than last year.
Over the past week, net gas imports to Ukraine (excluding short-haul) averaged 14.4 million cubic meters per day (from Hungary and Poland), while daily gas consumption in Ukraine rose to 30-33 million cubic meters per day, according to the European platform. per day (from Hungary and Poland), while daily gas consumption in Ukraine increased to 30-33 million cubic meters per day, which, according to the European platform
Agregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI), allows no more than 27 million cubic meters per day to be pumped into UGS facilities.
In January-April of this year, Ukraine increased imports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 64.2% compared to the same period last year – to 256,628 thousand tons from 156,255 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, imports of coke in monetary terms increased by 47.8% during this period, to $82.920 million. It was mainly imported from Poland (86.87% of supplies in monetary terms), Indonesia (11.54%), and the Czech Republic (1.57%).
During the period in question, Ukraine exported 3 tons of coke worth $2,000 to Albania.
As reported, Metinvest suspended the operations of the Pokrovsk Coal Group in January this year due to changes in the situation on the front line, power shortages, and the deterioration of the security situation.
Last year, Ukraine increased imports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 2.01 times compared to 2023, to 661,487 thousand tons, importing it mainly from Poland (84.76% of supplies in monetary terms), Colombia (7.74%), and Hungary (2.69%). In monetary terms, imports increased by 81.9% to $235.475 million.
In 2024, the country exported 1,601 thousand tons of coke, 84.76% of which went to Moldova ($368 thousand) to Moldova (99.18%) and Latvia (0.82%), while in January, March, October, and November 2024, there were no exports, whereas in 2023, exports amounted to 3,383 tons worth $787 thousand.
Imports of electric generator sets and rotary electric converters (HS code 8502) to Ukraine in January-April 2025 increased sevenfold in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2024, reaching $516.31 million, according to statistics from the State Customs Service (SCS).
According to SCS data, electric generators and converters were most often imported from the Czech Republic (18% of total exports of these products, or $93.7 million), Austria (15.6%, or $80.3 million), and the United States (15%, or $77.3 million), while a year earlier it was the Czech Republic ($15.36 million), Austria ($15.2 million), and China ($14.1 million).
In particular, in April, imports of this equipment increased almost fivefold compared to April last year, but decreased by 6% compared to March this year, to $83.14 million.
Ukraine exported electric generators in January-April in insignificant volumes ($1.9 million), mainly to Latvia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
In addition, according to the State Customs Service, imports of electric accumulators and separators to Ukraine increased 2.3 times in four months to $288.35 million, mostly from China (78.4%), as well as Taiwan (5.3%) and Bulgaria (4.1%).
At the same time, in April, imports of these products increased by more than 81% compared to April 2024, to $70.52 million, which is also 7% higher than in February 2025.
In four months, Ukraine exported batteries worth $17.1 million, mainly to Poland (27.9%), France (15.9%), and Germany (11.3%).
As reported, at the end of July 2024, Ukraine exempted the import of electric generator equipment and batteries from customs duties and VAT.
According to the State Customs Service, in 2024, imports of electric generators and converters to Ukraine increased by 3.7% compared to 2023, to $732.5 million, and batteries more than doubled, to $950.6 million.
