In 2024, imports of tin and tin products increased by 16.9% to $3.188 million (in December – $338 thousand). Exports of tin amounted to $389 thousand, compared to $159 thousand in 2023, with no exports in December.
Tin is used mainly 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 tinplate (tinned iron) for food containers, in solders for electronics, in house pipelines, in bearing alloys, and in coatings made of tin and its alloys. The most important tin alloy is bronze (with copper).
Ukraine increased imports of lead and lead products by 2.4 times to $2.391 million (December: $1.193 million). Exports of lead decreased by 22.9% to $11.401 million (December: $583 thousand).
Lead is currently mainly used in the production of lead-acid batteries for the automotive industry. In addition, lead is used to make bullets and some alloys.
In 2024, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 77.4% year-on-year to 35.173 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service, bauxite imports in monetary terms increased by 74% to $4.107 million during the period.
The imports came mainly from Turkey (78.48% of supplies in monetary terms), China (19.48%) and Spain (1.9%).
Ukraine did not re-export bauxite in 2024, as well as in 2023.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 81.5% compared to the previous year, to 945.396 thousand tons. Imports of bauxite in monetary terms decreased by 79.6% to $48.166 million. Imports were mainly from Guinea (58.90% of supplies in monetary terms), Brazil (27.19%) and Ghana (7.48%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 19,830 thousand tons of bauxite worth $2.360 million.
Bauxite is an aluminum ore used as a raw material to produce alumina, which is used to make aluminum. They are also used as fluxes in ferrous metallurgy.
Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MAP) imports bauxite to Ukraine.
In 2024, imports of aluminum and aluminum products increased by 21.7% to $446.006 million (in December – $36.943 million). Exports of aluminum increased by 27.4% to $124.408 million, compared to $8.426 million in December.
Aluminum is widely used as a structural material. The main advantages of aluminum are its lightness, stamping resistance, corrosion resistance, high thermal conductivity, and non-toxicity of its compounds. In particular, these properties have made aluminum extremely popular in the production of cookware, aluminum foil in the food industry, and packaging. The first three properties have made aluminum the main raw material in the aviation and aerospace industries (recently it has been replaced by composite materials, primarily carbon fiber). After the construction and production of packaging, such as aluminum cans and foil, the energy sector is the largest consumer of the metal.
In 2024, Ukraine increased its imports of nickel and nickel products by 73.7% compared to 2023, to $26.730 million. In December, imports amounted to $3.058 million. Nickel exports amounted to $602 thousand for the year, and $17 thousand in December.
Nickel is used to make stainless steel and for nickel plating. Nickel is also used in the production of batteries, powder metallurgy and chemicals.
In 2024, Ukrainian enterprises maintained imports of copper and copper products in value terms at the level of the previous year – up to $140.797 million. Copper exports increased by 22.4% to $88.237 million. In December, the country imported copper worth $13.487 million and exported it worth $7.128 million.
Copper is widely used in electrical engineering, pipe manufacturing, alloys, medicine and other industries.
