In the first half of this year, Ukraine’s flat steel exports rose by 96.9 percent to 833,000 mt, while its semi-finished steel exports amounted to 906,000 mt, up by 57.0 percent, both on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Ukrainian Steel Association Ukrmetallurgprom.
In the given period, section exports came to 257,000 mt, remaining unchanged from the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, in the first six months, domestic steel consumption rose by 7.7 percent year on year to 1.74 million mt, of which 592,400 mt was accounted for by imports.
In the same period, Ukraine imported 474,300 mt of flat steel, up by 21.5 percent year on year, while its section imports grew by 9.1 percent compared to the same period of 2023 to 108,400 mt. The country’s semi-finished steel exports in the January-June period amounted to 9,700 mt, compared to 5,100 mt recorded in the first six months of last year.
The main export markets for Ukraine in the January-June 2024 period were the EU (77.1%), other European countries (6.9%), and Africa (6.4%), while the main importers of Ukrainian steel were other European countries (46.5%), the EU-27 (31.0%), and Asia (20.5%).