Consumption of steel products in Ukraine fell by 13.9% y/y in January-April

In January-April 2024, Ukraine reduced consumption of steel products (rolled and semi-finished products) by 13.9% compared to the same period in 2023, to 1.01 million tons. This is evidenced by the data of Ukrmetalurgprom.

Over 4 months, Ukraine imported 351.6 thousand tons of steel products, up 10% compared to January-April 2023. Imports account for 34.9% of the domestic rolled steel consumption market in the country. The share of the import component in domestic consumption of steel products increased by 10.04 percentage points y/y.

The structure of imports is characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products – 82.88% and 15.27%, respectively. In January-April 2023, the dominance of flat products over long products was slightly lower, but still noticeable – 79.86% and 18.97%, respectively.

In 4 months, Ukrainian steelmakers produced 1.97 million tons of rolled products, up 30.5% year-on-year. The company exported 1.32 million tons of steel products, up 108% y/y.

The domestic market received 655 thousand tons of rolled and semi-finished products, down 25.4% y/y. In January-April, Ukrainian steelmakers reduced shipments to the domestic market, with exports accounting for 66.8% of total output over 4 months, down from 41.9% a year ago.

The share of flat products in export shipments increased to 40.4% over 4 months, up from 28.9% a year earlier. The share of long products in exports decreased to 14.2% from 21.8%.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Ukrainian steelmakers increased rolled steel production by 0.4% year-on-year – to 5.37 million tons. In December, Ukrainian steelmakers increased rolled steel production by 1.8% month-on-month and 4.7 times year-on-year – to 508 thousand tons.

Consumption of steel products in 2023 increased by 119.3% compared to 2022 to 3.506 million tons. Imports amounted to 1.12 million tons (+79.9% y/y), and exports amounted to 2.98 million tons (-31.7% y/y).