Ukraine increased imports of flat rolled products by 8.7% m/m in March

In March 2023, Ukraine increased imports of flat rolled steel by 8.7% compared to February 2023 – up to 65.94 thousand tons. Import costs in March increased by 13.5% m/m – up to $79.2 million. This is evidenced by State Customs Service’s data.

Compared to March 2022, in March 2023 Ukraine increased the costs of importing flat rolled products by 13 times. It is impossible to calculate the difference in the volume of imports in natural volume due to the lack of data.

In January-March 2023, Ukraine consumed 167,500 tons of imported flat products for $199.7 million. The costs of importing foreign products increased by 53.2% compared to the same period last year.

In January-March 2023, Ukraine imported the most coated flat rolled products with a width of 600 mm and more (Nomenclature 7210) – 86.5 thousand tons for $106.4 million. In March, the import of such products increased by 43.6% m/m – up to 36.5 thousand tons, and purchase costs amounted to $44.2 million (+36.9% m/m).

Also, 45.6 thousand tons of hot-rolled uncoated flat rolled products with a width of 600 mm and more (Nomenclature 7208) were imported for $39.95 million, and in March – 13.69 thousand tons (-35.7% m/m) for $12.75 million (-30% m/m).

In the top three among the types of flat rolled products by the volume of imports to Ukraine in January-March 2023 – cold-rolled flat products made of carbon steel without coating with a width of 600 mm and more (Nomenclature code 7209) – 18.81 thousand tons for $16.3 million. In March, deliveries of such products to Ukraine increased by 5.6% compared to the previous month – up to 9.05 thousand tons, and in monetary terms – by 0.3% m/m, up to $7.55 million.

China, Poland and Turkiye were the largest suppliers of coated flat rolled products with a width of 600 mm and more in January-March 2023 – 24.8%, 21.1% and 17.7%, respectively, in monetary terms. Turkiye (28.3%), Slovakia (20.5%) and Italy (15.8%) shipped more than 60% of uncoated hot-rolled flat products 600 mm wide and larger. Turkiye (65.04%) was the main supplier of uncoated cold-rolled flat products in January-March 2023.

As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several steel enterprises remained in the temporarily occupied territory, including the largest steel plants Azovstal and Ilyich Iron and Steel Works. Enterprises located in the territory under control are operating at minimum capacity due to problems with logistics, the unfavorable situation on the global steel markets, and interruptions in energy supply due to the shelling of the Ukrainian energy infrastructure by Russian forces, but now the situation has stabilized

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022 Ukraine reduced imports of flat rolled steel by 32.8% compared to 2021 – to 472.01 thousand tons. Import costs for the year decreased by 24.1% y/y – to $698.83 million. The largest suppliers of products were Turkiye, Poland, Slovakia and China.

In January-March 2023, Ukrainian steelmakers exported 58.43 thousand tons of flat rolled products for $38.17 million. That is, the import of flat rolled products exceeds the export of such products by Ukrainian producers by 7.51 thousand tons.