In the January-August period of this year, Ukraine’s total steel production amounted to 4.26 million mt, compared to 4.32 million in the same period of 2024, according to the data released by the Ukrainian Steel Association Ukrmetallurgprom. 2.48 million mt or 58.3 percent of total steel production was exported, while 1.78 million mt or 41.7 percent was consumed by the domestic market. In the January-August period last year, 2.85 million mt or 66.1 percent of total steel production was shipped overseas, with domestic sales amounting to 1.47 million mt or 33.9 percent of total steel production. As a result, total steel exports fell by 13.0 percent, while total domestic steel sales increased by 21.2 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In the first eight months this year, flat steel exports dropped by one percent to 1.10 million mt, while semi-finished steel exports amounted to 803,000 mt, down by 39.9 percent, both on year-on-year basis. In the given period, long steel exports came to 577,000 mt, moving up by 44.6 percent from the same period of last year.
The share of semi-finished products in exports in the January-August period was 32.37 percent, which is significantly lower than the 46.83 percent recorded in the same period of 2024, while the share of flat steel products in exports came to 44.38 percent, significantly exceeding 39.19 percent recorded in the first eight months of last year. Additionally, the share of long products rose to 22.26 percent from 13.99 percent recorded in the January-August period of 2024.
Meanwhile, in the first eight months this year, domestic steel consumption advanced by 22.4 percent year on year to 2.81 million mt, of which 1.04 million mt or 37.0 percent was accounted for by imports. However, in the January-August period of 2024, domestic steel consumption was 2.30 million mt, of which 833,200 mt or 36.25 percent was met through imports.
In the same period, Ukraine’s total steel imports came to 1.04 million mt, up by 25.1 percent year on year. In particular, Ukraine imported 732,300 mt of flat steel, up by 10.2 percent year on year, while its long steel imports grew by 39.5 percent compared to the same period in the previous year to 218,500 mt. The country’s semi-finished steel exports in the January-August period amounted to 91,700 mt, compared to 12,300 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 8.80 percent, compared to 1.48 percent recorded last year, while the share of flat steel products and long products in imports dropped to 70.24 percent and rose to 20.96 percent, respectively, from 79.73 percent and 18.80 percent recorded in the first eight months of the previous year.
The main export markets for Ukraine in the January-August 2025 period were the EU-27 (81.4%), other European countries (8.5%), and the CIS (6.6%), while the main import suppliers to Ukraine were other European countries (52.7%), the EU-27 (23.5%), and Asia (18.2%).