Pig iron exports from Ukraine reached 1.29 million tons in 2024

In 2024, Ukrainian steelmaking companies increased their exports of commercial pig iron by 3.4% compared to 2023, from 1.25 million tons to 1.29 million tons. At the same time, exports amounted to 1.32 million tons in 2022 and 3.23 million tons – in 2021. This is based on GMK Center’s calculations based on data from the State Customs Service.

During the year, we diversified our export destinations. In particular, the United States became the main consumer of Ukrainian pig iron, mainly due to the resumption of maritime logistics for Ukrainian cargoes of the steel and mining industry. At the same time, exports to the EU declined due to market stagnation.

Thus, shipments to the US in 2024 reached 940.21 thousand tons compared to 153.03 thousand tons in 2023 (+514% y/y), to Turkey – 102.49 thousand tons (+617%), Italy – 93.28 thousand tons (+61.9%), and Poland – 63.05 thousand tons (-90%). In 2023, Poland consumed more than half of Ukraine’s pig iron exports (633.34 thousand tons), while in 2024 it was only 5%.

“Amid the stagnation of the European market, the United States is the most attractive destination for sales of Ukrainian steel products. The US imposes anti-dumping duties on almost the entire range of steel products manufactured by Ukraine, so pig iron is virtually the only export product for the US market. There are currently no signals that this situation may change,” comments Andriy Glushchenko, GMK Center analyst.

On a quarterly basis, Ukraine’s pig iron exports in 2024 look like this:

• Q1 – 362.23 thousand tons (+92.2% q/q; -19.4% y/y);
• Q2 – 236.69 thousand tons (-34.7% q/q; -32.4% y/y);
• Q3 – 264.68 thousand tons (+11.8% q/q; +1.6% y/y);
• Q4 – 427.01 thousand tons (+61.3% q/q; +126.6% y/y).

Thus, due to a surge in exports in the last quarter of the year, Ukrainian steelmakers managed to increase the overall annual figure, as in Q1-Q3, shipments were more than 19% lower than in the same period in 2023. Average monthly exports amounted to 107.55 thousand tons compared to 104.04 thousand tons in 2023 and 110.44 thousand tons in 2022.

In December 2024, Ukraine exported 126.62 kt of pig iron, up 118% y/y and 33.7% m/m.

Ukrainian steelmakers’ export revenues increased by 6.1% to $500.34 million over the year. In December, the figure amounted to $49.89 million, up 138.8% y/y and 34.5% m/m.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Ukraine reduced pig iron exports by 5.8% compared to 2022, to 1.25 million tons. Compared to the pre-war year of 2021, pig iron shipments abroad decreased by 61.4%, or 1.99 million tons. Export revenues of domestic enterprises decreased by 26.2% y/y – to $471.5 million.

Poland was the largest consumer of Ukrainian pig iron in 2023, accounting for 51.9% in monetary terms. Spain accounted for 21.4% of export shipments and the United States for 13.1%.