Consumption of steel products in Ukraine fell by 11% y/y in January-February

In January-February 2026, Ukraine reduced its consumption of steel products (rolled and semi-finished products) by 11.01% y/y – to 495.5 thousand tons. This is evidenced by data from Ukrmetallurgprom.

During this period, 246.9 thousand tons of steel products were imported into the country, which is 19% more on an annualized basis. Imports accounted for 49.83% of the domestic market.

The structure of imports for the first two months of this year was notable for the dominance of flat products over long products (53.54% and 30.21%, respectively). However, in the same period last year, this ratio was much more pronounced – 82.55% and 14.42%, respectively.

In total, Ukrainian enterprises produced 796.7 thousand tons of rolled steel (-16.7% y/y) in the first two months of this year. 548.1 thousand tons (-9.8% y/y) were shipped for export.

248.6 thousand tons of rolled products and semi-finished products were supplied to the domestic market, which is 28.8% less than a year ago. In January-February, Ukrainian steelmakers reduced shipments of products to the domestic market, with exports accounting for 68.8% of total production for the period, compared to 63.5% a year ago.

According to the State Customs Service, the main export markets for Ukrainian rolled steel products in January-February were the EU countries (75.8%), other European countries (12.7%), and the CIS (6.4%). Among importers for the period, other European countries ranked first (44.9%), followed by Asian countries (24.6%) and the EU-27 (17.3%).

In 2025, Ukraine increased its consumption of steel products by 21.7% compared to 2024, to 4 million tons. About 40.1% or 1.6 million tons were imported.