Ukrainian enterprises increased exports of ferrous scrap by 32.04% year-on-year in January-March this year, up to 80,888 thousand tons from 61,261 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, 39.908 thousand tons were exported in March (+57.8% compared to February), 25.284 thousand tons of scrap in February (+61% compared to January), and 15.696 thousand tons in January.
In monetary terms, scrap metal exports in January-March increased by 25.1% to $24.302 million from $19.431 million.
Scrap metal exports in the period under review were mainly to Poland (88.03% of supplies in monetary terms), Greece (6.95%) and Germany (2.51%).
During the first quarter, Ukraine imported 25 tons of scrap metal worth $8 thousand from Poland (85.71%) and the British Virgin Islands (14.29%).
As reported, on March 28, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada held a working meeting on providing Ukrainian steel producers with raw materials, which was attended by representatives of metallurgical enterprises, the government and MPs. At the meeting, Dmytro Kysylevskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, stated that Ukraine currently has a EUR180/ton duty on scrap metal exports, which applies to all countries except the EU. This duty will continue to apply to supplies to Turkey after the signing of the FTA.
The MP noted that another important topic was also discussed at the meeting, namely the circumvention of the current duty on scrap through transit by the EU.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, last year almost 300 thousand tons of ferrous scrap were exported from Ukraine to the EU with zero duty. The lion’s share of these exports transited through Constanta and other ports to Turkey and other countries, avoiding the EUR180 per tonne duty, which is about UAH 2 billion in lost state budget revenues. Kysylevsky emphasized that if this scrap had gone to Ukrainian plants, it would have created more added value in production, more taxes, and the Armed Forces could have received more funds to finance Ukraine’s defense needs.
“Therefore, in view of this, Ukraine should start consultations with European partners on their ability to track the end user of raw materials, as well as on other more applied measures to ensure that this scarce raw material remains and is processed in the country (…) Ukraine should be as firm as possible in defending its own national interests,” the parliamentarian summarized.
As reported earlier, in 2024, Ukraine’s scrap collection companies increased exports of ferrous scrap by 60.7% compared to 2023, up to 293,190 thousand tons from 182,465 thousand tons. In monetary terms, the export of scrap metal increased by 73.2% to $91.311 million from $52.723 million over the year. Last year, scrap metal was exported mainly to Poland (81.80%), Greece (13.75%) and Germany (3.19%).
Last year, Ukraine imported 104 tons of scrap metal worth $110 thousand, mainly from Turkey (64.55% in monetary terms), the British Virgin Islands (16.36%) and Panama (8.18%), while the previous year the country imported 1,075 thousand tons worth $411 thousand.
