Ukraine’s foreign trade data have shown a slight decline in total export shipments of iron ore in October this year, compared to the same period of 2024, mainly due to lower sales to China, the main buyer. Meanwhile, exports in the first ten months have also declined year on year.
In October, Ukraine exported 2.4 million mt of iron ore, down 4.7 percent year on year and down by less than two percent compared to September. China remained the main buyer of the raw material from Ukraine, with a total of 1.14 million mt in October, down 25 percent compared to September. China was followed by Poland and Slovakia with almost 400,000 mt and 377,270mt, respectively. In fact, the increase in shipments to these two countries - by almost 50 percent and 84 percent, respectively, still could not compensate for the loss of volumes directed to China.
In the January-October period, the total amount of iron ore exports from Ukraine stood at 26.56 million mt, down 4.4 percent year on year, according to the customs data.