In January this year, Ukrainian enterprises increased exports of ferrous scrap by 2.1 times compared to the same period last year, up to 17,160 thousand tons from 8,280 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Friday, exports of scrap metal increased 2.15 times in monetary terms to $5.078 million from $2.362 million.
In January, Ukraine exported scrap metal to Poland (95.35%), Germany (4.61%) and the Netherlands (0.04%).
In the first month of the year, the country imported 129 tons of scrap metal from Slovakia for $45 thousand, while in January 2023 there were no imports of this raw material.
As reported, in 2023, the scrap collecting enterprise of Ukraine increased the export of scrap metal from the country by 3.4 times compared to the previous year – up to 182,485 thousand tons from 53,557 thousand tons. In monetary terms, exports increased 2.74 times to $52.723 million from $19.271 million.
Earlier, Ukrmetallurgprom President Oleksandr Kalenkov stated in an op-ed on the Interfax-Ukraine website that scrap metal is exported through the European Union, which has a preferential export duty of EUR3 per ton, and from there the raw materials are redirected to real customers. He noted that exporting raw materials directly to customers would cost EUR180 in export duties, and the Ukrainian budget has already lost UAH 350 million.
The head of Ukrmetallurgprom called for a temporary ban on the export of ferrous scrap to provide steelmakers with strategically important raw materials in the ongoing war. He also clarified that a ton of scrap metal processed into steel brings in 10 times more to the budget than the EU export duty, which is about $300 per ton.
In 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of ferrous scrap by 11.5 times compared to the previous year, to 53,557 thousand tons, and in monetary terms, it decreased by 12.4 times, to $19.271 million.
