In January-July 2024, the European Union increased imports of Ukrainian mining and metals products by 4% year-on-year – to 10.21 million tons. This is according to GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.
Steel raw materials accounted for the bulk of imports – 9.37 million tons, up 2.9% compared to January-July 2023. In particular, supplies of iron ore during this period amounted to 8.35 million tons (+3.6% y/y), pig iron – 133.32 thousand tons (-4.9%), ferroalloys – 182.3 thousand tons (-17.1%), scrap – 115.68 thousand tons (+10.7%), and semi-finished products – 589.82 thousand tons (+0.5%).
Imports of Ukrainian rolled steel products by European consumers increased by 18.5% over 7 months compared to January-July 2023 – to 740.59 thousand tons. In particular, long products increased by 14.8% y/y – to 257.42 thousand tons, and flat products – by 20.5% y/y, to 483.17 thousand tons. The key products were hot-rolled flat products – 382.56 thousand tons (+24.5% y/y), wire rod – 129.35 thousand tons (+6.8%), and cold-rolled flat products – 84.63 thousand tons (+7.1%).
Supplies of Ukrainian steel pipes to the EU in January-July 2024 increased by 11.1% compared to the same period in 2023, to 104.31 thousand tons. The largest imports were seamless ferrous pipes, tubes and profiles – 65.15 thousand tons (+13.2% y/y), and other hollow ferrous pipes, tubes and profiles – 37.83 thousand tons (+8.1%).
Thus, Ukraine is an important supplier of metals and mining products to the European market. At the same time, there are prospects for an increase in volumes if Russian imports are abandoned in favor of Ukrainian products, as local steel mills have the ability to increase production if demand is appropriate.
In January-July 2024, the EU imported 4.09 million tons of metallurgical raw materials (iron ore, pig iron, ferroalloys, DRI, scrap, semi-finished products). Pig iron accounted for the bulk of supplies – 965.38 thousand tons, direct reduced iron – 887.65 thousand tons, and semi-finished products – 1.91 million tons.
As GMK Center reported earlier, the European Union increased steel production by 1.5% year-on-year – to 87.2 million tons in January-August 2024. In August, production volumes increased by 2.2% y/y – to 9.1 million tons.
