In the first quarter of the current year, Ukrainian imports of long products increased by 22.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2010, rising to 87,990 mt. In March alone, Ukraine's long product imports rose by 48.4 percent compared to February to 37,870 mt, while marking an increase of 39.4 percent year on year.
In the first three months of 2011, Ukraine registered a one percent decrease in its long product exports year on year to 1.467 million mt. In March alone, long product exports from Ukraine increased by 1.6 percent compared to February, rising to 0.474 million mt, but were down 16.4 percent year on year.
For reference, in 2010 Ukraine increased its long steel imports by 79.2 percent year on year to 378,860 mt. During the period in question, Ukraine exported 5.775 million mt of long products - up 17.3 percent year on year.