EU imported 3.68 million tons of iron ore from Ukraine in Q1

In Q1 2024, Ukrainian mining companies shipped 3.68 million tons of iron ore to the EU market, up 0.5% year-on-year. This is based on GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.

European consumers’ spending on raw materials imports increased by 8% compared to January-March 2023 – to €451.86 million.

The main consumers of Ukrainian raw materials among the EU countries during this period were:

• Slovakia – 1.46 million tons (+50.6% y/y);
• Czech Republic – 624.52 thousand tons (-17% y/y);
• Poland – 930.33 thousand tons (+15.3% y/y);
• Germany – 237.63 thousand tons (did not import in the 1st quarter of 2023).

In March 2024, the EU imported 1.25 million tons of iron ore from Ukraine, up 17.8% month-on-month and 17.7% year-on-year. Import costs increased by 20.1% m/m and fell by 13.7% y/y – to €155.46 million.

Overall, in January-March 2024, the European Union reduced iron ore imports by 0.7% compared to the same period in 2023, to 18.32 million tons. In March, imports increased by 20.9% m/m and fell by 6% y/y – to 6.53 million tons. Thus, Ukrainian suppliers accounted for 20.1% of the total imports of EU iron ore for 3 months.

The largest importers were the Netherlands and Germany – 6.44 million tons (+32.1% y/y) and 3.76 million tons (+22.9% y/y), respectively.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, the EU increased iron ore imports from Ukraine by 3.7% compared to 2022, to 13.4 million tons. In total, European consumers imported 72.75 million tons of ore from third countries, down 11% y/y. Ukraine accounted for more than 18% of the total imports of iron ore to the EU.