Ukraine reduced the export of flat products by 35% m/m in October

In October 2023, Ukrainian steel enterprises reduced exports of flat products by 34.7% compared to September 2023 – to 103.72 thousand tons. In monetary terms, exports of such products fell by 34.1% m/m – to $62.88 million. This is evidenced by State Customs Service’s data.

Compared to October 2022, in October 2023, Ukrainian steel enterprises increased their revenue from flat products sales by 54.7%. Exports increased by 74.4% y/y.

In January-October 2023, Ukraine exported 889.12 thousand tons of flat products worth $610.25 million. Revenue from sales abroad decreased by 52.6% compared to the same period last year, while exports decreased by 42% y/y.

Over the past 10 months, the company exported the most uncoated flat hot-rolled products (HS 7208) – 675.1 thousand tons for $441.63 million. In October, the company shipped 83.47 thousand tons (-34.1% m/m) for $48.01 million (-35% m/m). Also, the company exported 166.4 thousand tons of uncoated flat products (HS 7209) for $112.9 million, in October – 15.75 thousand tons (-45.8% m/m) for $10.46 million (-41.7% m/m).

Flat products with galvanic or other coatings (HS 7210) were among the top three types of flat products exported from Ukraine in January-October 2023 – 45.49 thousand tons worth $53.02 million. In October, steelmakers increased exports of such products by 45.3% month-on-month – up to 4.33 thousand tons. Revenue from its shipment fell by 26.9% m/m – to $4.24 million.

The largest consumers of Ukrainian uncoated flat hot-rolled steel are Poland and Bulgaria, accounting for 46.8% and 18.1%, respectively, in monetary terms. Poland (30.3%), Bulgaria (16.9%) and Portugal (8.6%) together consumed more than 60% of uncoated flat products. Poland (74.4%) and Romania (20.1%) were the main buyers of Ukrainian coated products.

Given the average monthly exports of flat products, which amounted to 88.9 thousand tons over 10 months, Ukrainian steelmakers will ship more than 1 million tons of the products abroad by the end of 2023. Although the figure will be lower than in 2022 (1.63 million tons), it will still be significantly higher than in March-December 2022. 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, with the bulk of the relevant exports last year being shipped in January-February – 1.04 million tons.

Thus, in 2023, Ukrainian steelmakers will double last year’s figures, excluding the pre-war January-February period.

Steel enterprises of Ukraine in October 2023 reduced the production of rolled products by 16.6% compared to the previous month – to 436 thousand tons. In January-October 2023, Ukrainian steelmakers produced 4.36 million tons of rolled products, which is 13.1% less in compared to the same period in 2022.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022 Ukrainian steelmakers exported 1.63 million tons of flat rolled steel, which is 73% less compared to 2021. The revenue of steelmakers from the export of such products fell by 73.5% y/y – to $1.35 billion. The largest consumers of products were Poland, Romania, Turkiye and Bulgaria.