In the January-August period this year, Ukraine's total steel production amounted to 3.59 million mt, compared to 4.26 million mt in the same period of 2025, according to the data released by the Ukrainian Steel Association Ukrmetallurgprom. About 2.20 million mt or 61.2 percent of total steel production was exported, while 1.40 million mt or 38.8 percent was consumed by the domestic market. In the January-August period of 2025, 2.48 million mt or 58.3 percent of total steel production was shipped overseas, with domestic sales amounting to 1.78 million mt or 41.7 percent of total steel production. As a result, total steel exports fell by 11.5 percent, while total domestic steel sales decreased by 21.4 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In the given period, flat steel exports dropped by 11.8 percent to approximately 971,000 mt, while semi-finished steel exports amounted to approximately 910,000 mt, up by 13.3 percent, both on year-on-year basis. In the January-August period, long steel exports came to approximately 315,000 mt, moving down by 45.4 percent from the same period of last year.
The share of semi-finished products in exports in the first eight months was 41.44 percent, which is significantly higher than the 32.37 percent recorded in the same period of 2025, while the share of flat steel products in exports came to 44.22 percent, slightly decreasing from 44.38 percent recorded in the same period of the previous year. Additionally, the share of long products dropped to 14.34 percent from 23.26 percent recorded in the January-August period of 2025.
Meanwhile, in the same period, domestic steel consumption decreased by 9.6 percent year on year to 2.55 million mt, of which 1.15 million mt or 45.21 percent was accounted for by imports. However, in the January-August period of 2025, domestic steel consumption was 2.82 million mt, of which 1.04 million mt or 37.00 percent was met through imports.
In the January-August period, Ukraine's total steel imports came to 1.15 million mt, up by 10.4 percent year on year. In particular, Ukraine imported approximately 782,000 mt of flat steel, rising by 6.9 percent year on year, while its long steel imports grew by 36.8 percent compared to the previous year to approximately 299,000 mt. The country's semi-finished steel imports in the first eight months amounted to approximately 70,000 mt, compared to approximately 92,000 mt recorded in the given period of 2025.
In the meantime, the share of flat steel products in imports in the same period was 67.98 percent, compared to 70.24 percent recorded in the January-August period of 2025, while the share of long steel products rose to 25.97 percent, from 20.96 percent recorded in the same period of the previous year.
The main export markets for Ukraine in the January-August period of 2026 were the EU-27 (82.3%), other European countries (9.1%) and the CIS (6.7%), while the main import suppliers to Ukraine were other European countries (49.0%), Asia (26.1%) and the EU-27 (16.8%).
