Ukraine exported 1.63 million tons of flat products in 2024

Over 80% of shipments are hot-rolled flat products

In 2024, Ukrainian steel companies increased exports of flat products by 36.1% compared to 2023, to 1.63 million tons. This is evidenced by GMK Center’s calculations based on data from the State Customs Service.

Hot-rolled flat products (HS 7208) – 1.363 mln tons, accounted for more than 80% of exports, up 44.7% compared to 2023. The main consumers of the products during the year were Poland – 354.03 thousand tons (+42.2% y/y), Bulgaria – 362.35 thousand tons (+99%), and Italy – 131.98 thousand tons (+25.5%).

Cold-rolled flat products accounted for another 12% of shipments, or 201.71 thousand tons (+0.7% y/y). Poland is the key consumer of these products, accounting for 77.72 thousand tons (+45.3% y/y). Another 29.25 thousand tons were exported to Bulgaria (-5.5% y/y) and 18.82 thousand tons to Italy (+25.8%).

Last year, the company also exported 56.1 thousand tons of coated flat products, down 0.1% y/y. The company shipped 42.16 thousand tons of the product to Poland (-8.9% y/y), 8.54 thousand tons to Romania (+13.3%), and 2.13 thousand tons to Moldova (+85.3%).

In December, Ukrainian steelmakers exported 120.7 thousand tons of flat products, down 33.9% y/y but up 82.3% m/m. Shipments of hot-rolled flat products amounted to 99.11 thousand tons (-37.3% y/y, +110.9% m/m), flat steel products – 16.17 thousand tons (-15.4% y/y, +26% m/m), and coated flat products – 5.42 thousand tons (+9.2% y/y, +6% m/m).

The sharp month-on-month increase in exports is the result of a low comparison base, as flat products exports fell to a 19-month low of 66.2 kt in November. The low results in November reflect the difficulties arising from unfavorable conditions in the global steel market, particularly in the EU, the main export market for Ukrainian steelmakers, as well as internal challenges for the industry, including problems with energy supply, rising electricity and logistics prices, a shortage of skilled workers, etc.

Revenues from flat products exports increased by 28.7% y/y – to $1.01 billion in 2024, and in December by 77.4% m/m and decreased by 27.8% y/y – to $69.17 million.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Ukraine reduced exports of flat products by 26.4% compared to 2022, to 1.202 million tons. Revenues from exports of the relevant products decreased by 42.2% y/y – to $782.3 million.

Although exports in 2023 are lower than in 2022 (1.63 million tons), they are still significantly higher than in March-December 2022 (the period after the start of the full-scale invasion). From the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion until the end of 2022, Ukrainian steelmakers exported only 594.54 thousand tons of flat products, and the bulk of the relevant exports in 2022 were shipped in January-February – 1.04 million tons.

Thus, in 2023, Ukrainian steelmakers doubled their 2022 figures, excluding the pre-war January-February period.