In the January-July period of this year, Ukraine’s total steel production amounted to 3.62 million mt, compared to 3.73 million in the same period of 2024, according to the data released by the Ukrainian Steel Association Ukrmetallurgprom. 2.18 million mt or 60.2 percent of total steel production was exported, while 1.44 million mt or 39.8 percent was consumed by the domestic market. In the January-July period last year, 2.40 million mt or 64.5 percent of total steel production was shipped overseas, with domestic sales amounting to 1.32 million mt or 35.5 percent of total steel production. As a result, total steel exports fell by 9.3 percent, while total domestic steel sales increased by 8.8 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In the first seven months this year, flat steel exports rose by 1.5 percent to 972,000 mt, while semi-finished steel exports amounted to 711,000 mt, down by 37.0 percent, both on year-on-year basis. In the given period, long steel exports came to 499,000 mt, moving up by 56.4 percent from the same period of last year.
The share of semi-finished products in exports in the January-July period was 32.58 percent, which is significantly lower than the 46.90 percent recorded in the same period of 2024, while the share of flat steel products in exports came to 44.55 percent, significantly exceeding 39.83 percent recorded in the first seven months of last year. Additionally, the share of long products rose to 22.83 percent from 13.26 percent recorded in the January-July period of 2024.
Meanwhile, in the first seven months this year, domestic steel consumption advanced by 13.2 percent year on year to 2.30 million mt, of which 862,700 mt or 37.46 percent was accounted for by imports. However, in the January-July period of 2024, domestic steel consumption was 2.03 million mt, of which 711,600 mt or 34.97 percent was met through imports.
In the same period, Ukraine’s total steel imports came to 862,700 mt, up by 21.1 percent year on year. In particular, Ukraine imported 644,900 mt of flat steel, up by 14.2 percent year on year, while its long steel imports grew by 28.6 percent compared to the same period in the previous year to 174,300 mt. The country’s semi-finished steel exports in the January-July period amounted to 43,500 mt, compared to 11,200 mt recorded in the same period of the previous year.
In the meantime, the share of semi-finished steel products in imports in the January-July period was 5.04 percent, compared to 1.57 percent recorded last year, while the share of flat steel products and long products in imports dropped to 74.75 percent and rose to 20.20 percent, respectively, from 79.38 percent and 19.04 percent recorded in the first seven months of the previous year.
The main export markets for Ukraine in the January-July 2025 period were the EU-27 (81.5%), other European countries (8.1%), and the CIS (6.7%), while the main import suppliers to Ukraine were other European countries (55.4%), the EU-27 (23.7%), and Asia (17.8%).