Serhiy Bilenky, head of the Federation of Metallurgists of Ukraine (FMU), has called on Ukraine to promptly introduce antidumping measures against steel products from Turkey, arguing that Turkish producers benefit significantly from access to inexpensive Russian raw materials, according to Ukrainian media reports.
Bilenky warned that growing imports of Turkish steel are displacing domestic producers and negatively affecting capacity utilization, employment and tax revenues at a time when Ukraine's steel industry is already facing severe wartime challenges.
According to Bilenky, Turkey remains the largest importer of Russian metallurgical products. In 2025, Russian exports of ferrous metallurgy products to Turkey increased by 42 percent to $3.3 billion. Russian slab shipments rose by 22 percent, square billet exports increased by 50 percent and pig iron supplies surged by 83 percent. In the meantime, Russian material accounted for 78 percent of Turkey's pig iron imports, 52 percent of its slab imports and 44 percent of its square billet imports during the year.
FMU points to cost advantage from Russian raw materials
Bilenky stated that access to inexpensive Russian semi-finished products provides Turkish steelmakers with a significant production cost advantage. Once processed in Turkey, these materials can enter Ukraine as Turkish-origin products at prices that Ukrainian steelmakers cannot compete with on equal terms, according to the FMU. The federation stated that Turkish steel products currently represent more than 60 percent of Ukraine's total steel imports.
Ukraine imported approximately 131,000 mt of Turkish pipe products during 2022-2025, while annual import volumes increased two to threefold following the start of the full-scale war. Turkish pipes now account for approximately 10-15 percent of Ukraine's domestic pipe market, according to the federation. The FMU said the increase is already negatively affecting domestic production and sales as well as steelmakers' financial performance and employment.
Ukrainian producers face additional wartime pressures
Bilenky emphasized that Ukrainian steelmakers are already operating under difficult conditions characterized by high electricity prices, labor shortages, complicated logistics and war-related risks. Against this backdrop, he argued that additional competition from low-priced imported steel manufactured using Russian raw materials poses a direct threat to Ukrainian steel plants and the industrial regions that depend on them.
Ukraine's Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade has already launched an antidumping investigation into imports of welded steel pipes from Turkey following an application submitted by domestic producers. However, the FMU argued that the industry cannot afford to wait for the completion of an investigation that could take a year or longer.
FMU seeks preliminary duties and melt and pour rules
The federation is therefore calling for preliminary antidumping duties to be imposed as soon as possible. It also wants Ukraine to introduce a mechanism determining the origin of steel products according to the melt and pour principle, similar to the approach used in the European Union. Under this principle, steel origin is linked to the country where the steel was originally melted and poured rather than merely where subsequent processing occurred.
EU restrictions could redirect Turkish steel to Ukraine
The FMU also warned that tighter European Union steel trade protection measures could intensify import pressure on the Ukrainian market. According to industry estimates cited by the federation, Turkish steel exports to the EU could decline by 50-60 percent, potentially redirecting significant volumes toward alternative markets, including Ukraine.
Bilenky therefore called for preventive trade measures to protect Ukraine's domestic steel industry before these trade flows are redirected. Otherwise, the federation warned that surplus Turkish steel unable to enter the EU market could increasingly be shipped to Ukraine.
