Consumption of steel products in Ukraine fell by 3.6% y/y in January-May

In January-May 2024, Ukraine reduced consumption of steel products (rolled products and semi-finished products) by 3.6% compared to the same period in 2023, to 1.36 million tons. This is evidenced by the data of Ukrmetalurgprom.

Over 5 months, Ukraine imported 472.9 thousand tons of steel products, up 6.7% compared to January-May 2023. Imports account for 34.7% of the domestic rolled steel consumption market in the country. The share of the import component in domestic consumption of steel products increased by 6.74 percentage points y/y.

The structure of imports is characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products – 82.07% and 16.13%, respectively. In January-May 2023, the dominance of flat products over long products was slightly lower, but still noticeable – 80.45% and 18.46%, respectively.

In 5 months, Ukrainian steelmakers produced 2.57 million tons of rolled products, up 29.6% year-on-year. The company exported 1.68 million tons of steel products, up 73.9% y/y.

The domestic market received 888 thousand tons of rolled and semi-finished products, down 12.6% y/y. In January-May, Ukrainian steelmakers reduced shipments to the domestic market, with exports accounting for 65.4% of total output over 5 months, down from 48.7% a year ago.

The share of flat products in export shipments increased to 40.3% over 5 months, up from 30.7% a year earlier. The share of long products in exports decreased to 12.9% from 20.3%.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Ukrainian steelmakers increased their 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).