The EU imported 4.55 million tons of iron and steel products from Russia in January-November

In January-November 2025, the European Union imported 4.55 million tons (-9.8% y/y) of steel raw materials of Russian origin. The cost of imports reached €1.85 billion (-22.4% y/y). This is evidenced by GMK Center calculations based on Eurostat data.

The bulk of imports consists of semi-finished products. In the first 11 months of 2025, 3.19 million tons of semi-finished products (+9.9% y-o-y) were shipped to the EU. Import costs amounted to €1.4 billion (-5% y/y). The largest consumers of semi-finished products from Russia are Belgium – 1.16 million tons (+1.2% y/y), Italy – 718,070 tons (+7.7% y/y), the Czech Republic – 711.4 thousand tons (+62.5% y/y), and Denmark – 498.35 thousand tons (+7.6% y/y).

Large volumes of imports are accounted for by cast iron – 696.99 thousand tons (-32.2% y/y). The revenue of Russian iron and steel companies from supplying products to the EU market amounted to €254.45 million (-39.5% y/y). The main volumes were sent to Italy – 524.62 thousand tons (-31.8% y/y), Latvia – 87.27 thousand tons (-40.9% y/y), and Belgium – 31.07 thousand tons (+1.5% y/y).

There were almost no deliveries of Russian-made ferroalloys to the EU market in January-November 2025 – 26.5 tons compared to 59.83 thousand tons a year earlier.

Scrap imports from Russia amounted to 69.18 thousand tons (+62.3% y/y), and procurement costs amounted to €21.25 million (-9.9% y/y). Iron ore supplies amounted to 2.04 thousand tons (9.36 thousand tons in January-November 2024). Imports of direct reduced iron (DRI) during this period amounted to 584.65 thousand tons (-41.2% y/y) for €175.83 million (-47.2% y/y).

In November 2025, the EU imported 352.85 thousand tons (+2.2% y/y; -38% m/m) of iron and steel products from Russia, including:

• pig iron – 0 thousand tons (0 thousand tons in November 2024; 0 thousand tons in October);
• semi-finished products – 294.13 thousand tons (+27.4% y/y; -42.1% m/m);
• DRI – 58.7 thousand tons (-44.1% y/y; +14.5% m/m);
• scrap – 0 thousand tons (5.41 thousand tons in November 2024; 10.2 thousand tons in October);
• raw materials – 0 thousand tons (0 thousand tons in November 2024; 0 thousand tons in October).

Revenue from exports to the EU in November amounted to €138.86 million, which is 9.2% less y/y and 37.3% less m/m.

As a reminder, the EU imported 5.34 million tons of iron and steel products from Russia in 2024.

Despite sanctions, Russian producers continue to receive significant revenues from exports to the European Union, which exceeded €2.5 billion last year. This indicates the weak effectiveness of the current restrictions and the existence of exceptions that allow Russian steel companies to export to EU markets.