Exclusive The EU increased imports of iron and steel products from Russia by 8.6% y/y in January-April

The bulk of the volume is accounted for by pig iron, semi-finished steel products and direct reduced iron

According to the results of January-April 2025, the European Union (EU) imported 2.12 million tons (+8.6% y/y) of steel raw materials of Russian origin. Expenditures on imports of the corresponding products amounted to €867.4 million (-8.7% y/y). This is evidenced by GMK Center calculations based on Eurostat data.

Semi-finished products account for the bulk of imports. In the first 4 months of 2025, 1.16 million tons of semi-finished products were shipped to the EU (-3.6% y/y). The cost of relevant imports amounted to €533.16 million (-14.6% y/y). The largest consumers of semi-finished products from the Russian Federation are Belgium – 448.68 thousand tons (-7.1% y/y), Italy – 274.12 thousand tons (+5.1% y/y), Czech Republic – 230.32 thousand tons (+57.7% y/y), and Denmark – 186.29 thousand tons (-2.5% y/y).

Large volumes of imports also fall on cast iron – 696.99 thousand tons (+2.6 times y/y). The revenue of Russian mining and metallurgical companies from supplying the relevant products to the EU market amounted to €254.45 million (+2.3 times y/y). The main volumes were sent to Italy – 524.62 thousand tons (+3.1 times y/y), Latvia – 87.27 thousand tons (+22.5% y/y), and Belgium – 31.07 thousand tons (0 thousand tons in January-April 2024).

There were almost no deliveries of Russian-made ferroalloys to the EU market in January-April 2025 – 3.1 tons compared to 28.49 thousand tons a year earlier.

Scrap imports from Russia amounted to 17.57 thousand tons (+2.2 times y-o-y), and procurement costs amounted to €6.62 million (+60.8% y-o-y). Iron ore supplies amounted to 1.15 thousand tons (9.36 thousand tons in January-April 2024). At the same time, imports of direct reduced iron (DRI) during this period amounted to 241.34 thousand tons (-44.1% y/y) for €73.14 million (-50.7% y/y).

In April 2025, the EU imported 371.86 thousand tons (-36.3% y/y; -6.1% m/m) of iron and steel products from Russia, including:

• pig iron – 0 thousand tons (70.43 thousand tons in April 2024; 18.59 thousand tons in March);
• semi-finished products – 306.03 thousand tons (-7% y/y; +1.4% m/m);
• DRI – 55.04 thousand tons (-68.9% y/y; -22.3% m/m);
• scrap – 9.64 thousand tons (+507% y-o-y; +104% m/m);
• raw materials – 1.15 thousand tons (not imported in April 2024 and the previous month).

Revenue from Russian steelmakers’ exports to the EU in April amounted to €161.13 million, which is 42.1% less y/y and 5.8% less m/m.

As GMK Center reported earlier, 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 EU, with this amount exceeding €2.5 billion last year. This indicates the weak effectiveness of the current restrictions and the existence of exceptions that allow Russian metallurgical companies to export to EU markets.