Ukrainian metal market increases by 19% in Jan-April, share of imports is almost 38%
Ukrainian enterprises in January-April 2025 increased their consumption of metal products by 19.1%, year-over-year, to 1.199 million tonnes.
According to the Ukrmetalurgprom association's press release on Wednesday, some 450,900 tonnes were imported during this period, or 37.61% of the domestic market for metal products consumption.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom, in the first four months of 2025, metal enterprises produced 1.982 million tonnes of rolled metal (100.5% compared to the same period in 2024), of which, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, about 1.234 million tonnes, or 62.3%, were exported. In January-April 2024, the share of exports was 66.8% (1.318 million tonnes with a total production of rolled metal of 1.973 million tonnes). The share of semi-finished products in export deliveries in January-April 2025 is 36.06%, which is significantly lower than the indicator for the same period last year (45.45%). The share of flat rolled products in export deliveries in January-April 2025 significantly exceeds last year's figure for the same reporting period (44.89% and 40.36%, respectively), as does the share of long rolled products (19.04% versus 14.19%).
The import structure in January-April 2025, as before, is characterized, as last year, by a significant dominance of flat rolled products over long rolled products some 78.86% and 19.12%, respectively (in January-April 2024 some 82.88% and 15.27%).
"For four months of 2025, the domestic market capacity amounted to 1,190 tonnes of rolled metal, of which 450,900 tonnes, or 37.61%, were imported. In January-April 2024, the domestic market capacity was 1,007 tonnes, of which 351,600 tonnes, or 34.93% were imported. Thus, in January-April 2025, there was an increase in the domestic market capacity compared to January-April 2024 by 19.10%, with a simultaneous increase in the share of the import component by 2.68%," the press release states.
The main export markets for Ukrainian rolled metal for four months 2025, according to the State Customs Service, are the countries of the European Union (79.7%), other Europe (10.2%) and the CIS (6.8%).
Among metallurgical importers, the first place is occupied by other European countries (57.9%), the second is the EU-27 (24.3%), and the third is the countries of Asia (17.3%).
As reported, the Ukrainian rolled metal market in 2024 decreased by 6.26% compared to the previous year, to 3.288 million tonnes, while in 2023 it increased by 2.19 times compared to 2022 - to 3.506 million tonnes.