Ukraine reduced imports of flat products by 15.4% m/m in March

In March 2024, Ukraine reduced imports of flat products by 15.4% compared to the previous month – to 62.7 thousand tons. Import costs amounted to $69.42 million, down 15.7% m/m. This is evidenced by the data of the State Customs Service.

Compared to March 2023, in March 2024, Ukrainian consumers reduced imports of flat products by 4.9%, and the cost of purchasing foreign products – by 12.4%.

In January-March, Ukraine imported 208.25 thousand tons of flat products, up 24.3% year-on-year. Import costs increased by 16.4% y/y – to 232.5 thousand tons.

Ukraine imported 87.2 thousand tons of coated flat products (HS 7210) worth $99.35 million over 3 months. In March, imports amounted to 27.08 thousand tons (-11.2% m/m, -25.7% y/y) for $30.1 million (-14.9% m/m, -32% y/y). Also, 81.66 thousand tons of uncoated hot-rolled flat products (HS 7208) were imported for $66.55 million, and in March – 24.53 thousand tons (-13.4% m/m; +79.1% y/y) for $20.04 million (-14.9% m/m; +57.2% y/y).

Cold-rolled flat products made of uncoated carbon steel (HS 7209) were among the top three types of flat products imported to Ukraine in January-March, with 14.02 thousand tons worth $11.13 million. In March, imports amounted to 3.75 thousand tons (-45.9% m/m, -58.6% y/y) for $2.99 million (+43.9% m/m, -60.5% y/y).

Turkey, Poland and Slovakia were the largest suppliers of coated flat products in February, accounting for 27.8%, 16.8% and 15.7% in monetary terms, respectively. Turkey (50.2%), Italy (23.1%) and Slovakia (19.5%) shipped more than 90% of uncoated hot-rolled flat products. Turkey was the main supplier of uncoated cold-rolled flat products (79.1%).

The sharp increase in imports is due to the destruction of Mariupol steel mills that specialized in flat products. In addition, there is the impact of a low comparison base – in the first half of last year, economic activity was low due to the hostilities. Consequently, imports were not at the top of the agenda.

Imports of flat products are expected to grow in the long term, especially during the post-war recovery period. Imports will be the main source of supply to meet domestic demand. In the short term, imports will stabilize at a certain level, given the existing logistical constraints in the war.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Ukraine increased imports of flat steel products by 93.2% compared to 2022, up to 908.2 thousand tons. Import costs increased by 48.4% y/y – to $1.03 billion. The largest suppliers of products were Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and China.