In the January-May period of this year, Ukraine’s flat steel exports rose by 127.9 percent to 677,000 mt, while its semi-finished steel exports amounted to 786,000 mt, up by 66.2 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 217,000 mt, increasing by 10.7 percent from the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, in the first five months, domestic steel consumption declined by 3.6 percent year on year to 1.36 million mt, of which 472.900 mt was accounted for by imports.
In the same period, Ukraine imported 388,100 mt of flat steel, up by 22.0 percent year on year, while its section imports grew by 4.5 percent compared to the same period of 2023 to 76,300 mt. The country’s semi-finished steel exports in the first five months amounted to 8,500 mt, compared to 4,300 mt recorded in the January-May period last year.
The main export markets for Ukraine in the January-May 2024 period were the EU (78.8%), other European countries (6.3%), and South America (5.7%), while the main importers of Ukrainian steel were other European countries (46.9%), the EU-27 (33.7%), and Asia (18.1%).