Consumption of steel products in Ukraine increased to 297 thousand tons in January

Imports account for more than 34.7% or 103 thousand tons

In January 2025, Ukraine increased consumption of steel products (rolled and semi-finished products) by 115.6% compared to January 2024, up to 297.1 thousand tons. This is evidenced by the data of Ukrmetprom.

During the month, 103 thousand tons of steel products were imported to Ukraine, up 27.1% compared to January 2024. Imports account for 34.1% of the domestic rolled steel consumption market in the country. The share of the import component in domestic consumption of steel products increased by 7.58 percentage points y/y.

The structure of imports is characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products – 86.5% and 10.8%, respectively. In January 2024, the dominance of flat products over long products was also significant – 83.9% and 15.2%, respectively.

In total, Ukrainian steelmakers produced 430.8 thousand tons of rolled products in the month, up 7.2% year-on-year. The company exported 286.1 thousand tons of steel products, down 28.5% y/y.

The domestic market received 194.1 thousand tons of rolled and semi-finished products, up 550% y/y. In January, Ukrainian steelmakers significantly increased shipments to the domestic market, with exports accounting for 59.6% of total output in the month, compared to 88.4% a year ago.

The share of flat products in export deliveries increased to 54.3%, up from 33.6% a year earlier. The share of long products in exports increased to 17.4% from 10.8%. At the same time, the share of semi-finished products fell to 28.2% from 55.6%.

The main export markets for Ukrainian rolled steel in January 2025, according to the State Customs Service, are the European Union (69.6%), the rest of Europe (12.4%) and Africa (7.7%). Among steel importers, the first place is occupied by other European countries (61.3%), followed by the EU (24.7%), and the third – by Asian countries (13.8%).

As GMK Center reported earlier, consumption of steel products in Ukraine in 2024 decreased by 6.26% year-on-year – to 3.288 million tons. Over the year, 1.235 million tons of steel products were imported, up 10.2% y/y, and about 4.17 million tons were exported, up 39.7% y/y. Domestic production amounted to 6.22 million tons (+15.8% y/y).