In the first quarter of this year, Ukraine’s flat steel exports rose by 241.2 percent to 419,000 mt, while its semi-finished steel exports amounted to 463,000 mt, up by 172.4 percent, both on year-on-year basis, according to the data released by the Ukrainian Steel Association Ukrmetallurgprom.
In the given period, section exports amounted to 147,000 mt, increasing by 47.0 percent from the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, in the first three months, domestic steel consumption declined by 27.3 percent year on year to 610,400 mt, of which 250,400 mt was accounted for by imports.
In the same period, Ukraine imported 208,200 mt of flat steel, up 24.3 percent year on year, while its section imports rose by 2.1 percent compared to the same period of 2023 to 38,100 mt.
The main export markets for Ukraine in the January-March 2024 period were the EU (81.6%), South America (5.8%), and other European countries (5.4%), while the main importers of Ukrainian steel were other European countries (42.9%), the EU-27 (40.4%), and Asia (15.8%).