Ukraine reduced exports of semi-finished products by 16% m/m in December 2022

The revenue of steelmakers from the export of slabs and billets for the month decreased by 17.3% m/m

In December 2022, Ukrainian steel enterprises reduced the export of semi-finished products by 16.2% compared to the previous month – to 75.14 thousand tons. The revenue of enterprises from exports in December 2022 decreased by 17.3% m/m – to $43.84 million. This is evidenced by State Customs Service’s data.

In December 2022, shipments of semi-finished steel products from Ukraine decreased by 86.8% in physical terms and by 87.3% in monetary terms year-on-year.

In 2022, the export of semi-finished products amounted to 1.899 million tons, which is 72% less than in the same period last year. In monetary terms, the export of semi-finished products decreased by 70.9% y/y in the 12 months of 2022 – to $1.19 billion.

The main importers of semi-finished products from Ukraine in 12 months of 2022 were Bulgaria (25.55% of deliveries in monetary terms), Poland (13.97%) and Italy (12.13%).

In December 2022, Ukrainian steelmakers reduced the production of rolled products by 51.3% compared to November – to 108,000 tons. Pig iron production in December 2022 fell by 26.3% m/m – to 247,000 tons, and steel production decreased by 66% m/m – to 106,000 tons.

The low production of Ukrainian steelmakers is connected with logistical problems, the unfavorable situation of the world market, as well as with the destruction due to hostilities of the two largest enterprises of Ukrainian iron and steel industry – Azovstal and Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, Europe became the only market for Ukrainian products. At the same time, it is difficult and expensive to deliver goods by rail. The costs of steelmakers for the shipment of rolled steel to customers increased at least by 2 times, and the demand for products fell due to unfavorable market conditions.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2021 export of semi-finished products from Ukraine decreased by 9.5% compared to 2020 – to 6.8 million tons. In monetary terms, the export of semi-finished products over the past year increased by 48.8% y/y – up to $4.1 billion. The main importers of Ukrainian semi-finished products in 2021 were Italy (30.9%), Turkiye (12.8%) and the Dominican Republic (8%).