Exclusive Ukraine increased imports of flat rolled steel by 17.2% y/y in January-May

Over 40% of imports are coated flat rolled steel

In January-May 2025, 454.68 thousand tons of flat rolled steel were delivered to the Ukrainian market, which is 17.2% more than in the same period of 2024. This is evidenced by GMK Center calculations based on data from the State Customs Service.

About 40% of imports are coated flat products (HS – 7210) – 196.82 thousand tons, which is 10.2% more than last year. The main suppliers of products during the period were Turkey – 85.33 thousand tons, Poland – 24.62 thousand tons, and Slovakia – 23.25 thousand tons.

Another 36.5% of supplies, or 165.87 thousand tons (+18.9% y-o-y), accounted for flat hot-rolled products (HS – 7208). The key source of supplies of these products is Turkey – 125.6 thousand tons. Another 25.79 thousand tons were imported from China, and 4.65 thousand tons from Italy.

In January-May, 47.29 thousand tons of flat cold-rolled products (HS – 7209) were imported, which is 63.8% more y-o-y. Turkey imported 33.17 thousand tons of the corresponding products, China – 11.78 thousand tons, and Slovakia – 1.88 thousand tons.

In May, Ukrainian consumers imported 99.11 thousand tons of flat rolled products, which is 2.5% more than last year and 13.5% more than last month. Shipments of coated flat rolled products amounted to 47.55 thousand tons (-4.2% year-on-year; +23.6% month-on-month /m.), flat hot-rolled products – 31.78 thousand tons (-6.1% y-o-y; -9.5% m-o-m), flat cold-rolled products – 9.67 thousand tons (+59.8% y-o-y; +103.7% m-o-m).

Expenditures on imports of flat rolled products in January-May increased by 12.1% y/y – to $478.89 million, and in May – by 3.5% y/y and 9% m/m – to $108.14 million.

It should be noted that in 2024, 983.49 thousand tons of flat rolled steel products were supplied to the Ukrainian market, which is 8.3% more than in 2023.

About half of the imports are coated flat rolled products – 468.61 thousand tons (+7% y-o-y). Another 34.7% of supplies, or 341,210 tons (+8.7% y-o-y), accounted for hot-rolled flat products, and 79,310 tons (-0.9% y-o-y) for cold-rolled flat products.

The cost of flat steel imports in 2024 increased by 5% y-o-y – to $1.08 billion.