Enterprises engaged in operations with ferrous metal scrap called for lifting the de facto ban on scrap exports from Ukraine and introducing quotas for supplies of this raw material to EU countries in the amount of 200,000 tonnes per year.
This position was voiced by business representatives at the press conference “Ukraine’s Scrap Market: Between the Needs of the Economy and Regulatory Uncertainty” at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Friday.
President of the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals (“UAVtormet”) Volodymyr Bublei noted that steel production over the first 5 months of the current year decreased by 6%, while scrap consumption fell by 7.6%, to 604,000 tonnes. Because of this, the country lost EUR60 million in foreign currency revenue, and tax revenues to the state budget decreased accordingly.
According to him, due to the ban on scrap exports, scrap prices on the domestic market fell. Thus, Ukrzaliznytsia sold scrap this year at a price of UAH 5,500, whereas in 2025 the average price was UAH 8,500 per tonne. When selling 50,000 tonnes of scrap, UZ lost UAH 3,000 on each tonne.
“Consumers are now selling scrap on the domestic market at $160-165 per tonne, while entrepreneurs in the EU pay $360 per tonne. Thus, we lose an average of $200,” Bublei stated.
He proposed holding a meeting at the government level in order to sort out the situation on the market and draw up a balance of scrap consumption. In addition, he considers plans to increase VAT on scrap operations to be wrong.
General Director of Ukrmet-Invest LLC Serhii Vovk noted that his company dismissed 150 employees because of the de facto ban on scrap exports.
“Of 18 divisions, 6 remain, the rest have been put up for sale because of million-scale losses. Previously, we supplied 5-6,000 tonnes of scrap to the market, now it is 2,000 tonnes. The scrap procurement sector accordingly reduced payments to the budget. Overall, the state lost more than UAH 500 million in budget revenues,” Vovk said.
General Director of the UKRMET Group of Companies Vladyslav Kleshchynskyi noted that after the de facto closure of scrap exports, the industry “broke down.”
“We closed two terminals, a port and 10 sites. But the industry should not be closed when there is no possibility to sell products on the domestic market. A compromise solution is to introduce an export quota of up to 200,000 tonnes for scrap supplies to the EU,” Kleshchynskyi said.
Development Director of Mirten LLC Mykola Klymovych appealed to the government: “We are not demanding benefits or assistance – give us the opportunity to work under market conditions.”
Earlier, head of UAVtormet Volodymyr Bublei stated that as a result of the introduction from January 1 of the current year of a zero quota for the export of ferrous metal scrap, the scrap procurement industry is losing its potential, reducing raw material procurement and being forced to cut employees.
As reported, Ukraine’s scrap procurement enterprises in 2025 increased the export of ferrous metal scrap by 45.3% compared with the previous year – to 448,685 tonnes from 293,190 tonnes. In monetary terms, scrap exports in 2025 grew by 44.5% – to $131.927 million from $91.311 million. Scrap exports during the specified period were formally carried out mainly to Poland (75.42% of supplies in monetary terms), Greece (10.19%) and Italy (6.65%).
In connection with the sharp growth in exports of strategic raw materials from Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy initiated the introduction of a licensing and quota regime for scrap exports with the establishment of a zero quota volume. The government introduced a zero export quota for 2026 for exports of ferrous metal scrap.
Ukraine’s scrap procurement enterprises in 2024 increased exports of ferrous metal scrap by 60.7% compared with 2023 – to 293,190 tonnes from 182,465 tonnes. In monetary terms, scrap exports over the year grew by 73.2% – to $91.311 million from $52.723 million.
SCRAP_METAL, SERHII_VOVK, VLADYSLAV_KLESHCHYNSKYI, VOLODYMYR_BUBLEI, МИКОЛА_КЛИМОВИЧ
