Ukrainian companies increased exports of ferrous scrap by 52.2% in January-March this year compared to the same period last year, up to 61.261 thousand tons from 40.255 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service, 20,907 thousand tons of scrap metal were exported in March (23,194 thousand tons in February and 17,160 thousand tons in January).
In monetary terms, scrap exports increased by 65.7% to $19.431 million from $11.725 million.
In January-March, Ukraine exported scrap metal to Poland (90.56%), Greece (5.42%) and Germany (3.89%).
In the first three months of the year, the country imported 254 thousand tons of scrap metal for $94 thousand. Imports were carried out from Slovakia (68.82% in monetary terms), Poland (13.98%) and the Netherlands (10.75%), while in January-March 2023, 46 tons of scrap were imported from Slovakia for $16 thousand.
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.
