EU increased imports of ferroalloys from Ukraine by 33.9% y/y in January-April

In January-April 2023, the European Union increased the import of ferroalloys from Ukraine by 33.9% compared to the same period in 2022 – up to 172.7 thousand tons. In monetary terms, the import of products decreased by 39.3% y/y – to €141 million. This is evidenced by Eurostat’s data.

The largest importers of ferroalloys of Ukrainian production among the EU countries in January-April 2023 were:

• Poland – 154.1 thousand tons (+75.7% compared to January-April 2022);
• Italy – 7.6 thousand tons (-42.6% y/y);
• Romania – 2.84 thousand tons (-28% y/y).

In April 2023, EU countries increased imports of ferroalloys from Ukraine by 2.3 times compared to March – up to 65,000 tons. Compared to April 2022, deliveries of Ukrainian products to European consumers increased by 36.6%. The costs of European steelmakers on imports amounted to €52 million, which is 33.1% less compared to April 2022 and 2.4 times more than in March 2023.

In April 2023, Poland consumed 58.6 thousand tons of Ukrainian ferroalloys, which is 2.2 times more compared to March and 32.7% y/y. In April, Romania increased the import of ferroalloys from Ukraine by 6.4% m/m, and by 2.8 times y/y – up to 0.75 thousand tons. In April, Italy imported 3.7 thousand tons of Ukrainian products, while in April 2022 it did not consume.

As GMK Center reported earlier, ferroalloy enterprises of Ukraine in January-March 2023 reduced production by 2.7 times compared to the same period last year – to 70,000 tons.

Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure at the end of 2022 significantly worsened the situation for the ferroalloy industry, which depends more than others on stable energy supply. As a result of these strikes, the enterprises of the industry temporarily stopped their work partially or completely.

The Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant was forced to shut down due to power outages. In addition, the company depends on imported raw materials, so it cannot count on its stable flow due to the blockade of the ports.

Currently, the situation with energy supply has stabilized, but a new problem has appeared for ferroalloyers located in the Dnipropetrovsk region – the undermining of the Kakhovska HPP by Russian troops. In particular, NFP reduces production volumes due to the need to reduce water consumption for the production process due to the shallowing of the Kakhov reservoir.

Export of ferroalloys from Ukraine in April 2023 increased by 1.3% compared to the previous month – up to 63.47 thousand tons. In January-April 2023, Ukraine exported 208.02 thousand tons of ferroalloys worth $180.1 million, which is 5.5% and 53.9% less, respectively, compared to the same period in 2022.