Ukrainian scrap supply is down for international markets

Ukrainian scrap supply is down for international markets

Since the Ukranian Government has introduced the scrap export tax of €30/mt by the beginning of 2003, the scrap exports from Ukraine came down drastically. The official statistics confirm the huge decrease in exports during the first three months of the year. Ukrainian ferrous scrap exports have only been about 200'000 tons during the mentioned period! When compared to first quarter of last year the exports are down by almost half a million tons in this year's first quarter. Taking into consideration the fact that Ukrainian Government introduced the export tax to help ease scrap supply problems of the Ukrainian steel industry, the situation might be interpreted as local supply had increased by the same quantity. But it seems the reality is completely otherwise. The scrap collection during the first three months of 2003 was also down by more than 600'000 tons when compared to same period last year. Apparently, the export tax has only been able to help local mills to keep their scrap supply more or less at the same level, so far.