In the first half of the current year, Ukraine’s pig iron exports totaled 1.5 million mt, rising by 22.8 percent year on year, according to the official statistics. In terms of value, in the given period Ukraine’s pig iron exports rose by eight percent year on year to $422.3 million.
Though as is traditional the US ranked in first place among the main importers of Ukrainian pig iron, accounting for 55.99 percent of the total export value, the main support for growth in export volumes came from China. Accordingly, in the January-June period this year China accounted for a 20.6 percent share of the total export value, while in the same period of the previous year it was not among the importers of Ukrainian pig iron at all.
In June alone, Ukraine’s pig iron exports abroad increased by 78.5 percent year on year to 266,900 mt, while in terms of value exports rose by 46.9 percent year on year to $70.4 million.