Exclusive Ukrainian steelmakers reduced exports of semi-finished products by 36% y/y in 1H2025

During this period, most of the products were sent to Bulgaria, Turkey, and Poland

In January-June 2025, Ukrainian steel companies reduced exports of semi-finished steel products by 36.4% compared to the same period in 2024, to 564,680 tons. This is evidenced by GMK Center calculations based on data from the State Customs Service.

The key destinations for semi-finished products exports during the period are Bulgaria – 238.6 thousand tons (-22.5% y-o-y), Turkey – 84.3 thousand tons (+24.1% y-o-y), Poland – 93.45 thousand tons, and Egypt – 21.93 thousand tons (-66.9% y-o-y). At the same time, deliveries to Egypt have not been made since January, and to Turkey since April.

In the second quarter, exports of semi-finished products decreased by 38.1% y/y and 8.1% q/q – to 564.68 thousand tons.

In June, Ukrainian metallurgical companies exported 58.61 thousand tons of semi-finished products, which is 11.2% less than in the previous month and 51.1% less than in June 2024. The indicator reached its lowest level since January 2023.

Last month, 31.16 thousand tons of semi-finished products were shipped to Bulgaria (+17.8% month-on-month; -1.5% year-on-year) and 21.33 thousand tons to Poland (+35.5% month-on-month). No deliveries were made to Egypt and Turkey.

Export revenue for the first six months fell by 36.7% y/y to $278.49 million, and in June it fell by 49.8% y/y and 12.3% m/m to $29.54 million. In the second quarter, the indicator fell by 35.9% y-o-y, but grew by 1.2% q-o-q.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Ukraine increased its exports of semi-finished steel products by 56.7% in 2024 compared to 2023, from 1.2 million tons to 1.89 million tons.

Export shipments increased due to the resumption of maritime exports to distant markets, in particular to Egypt – 356,170 tons (+1,233% y-o-y). Bulgaria received 595,020 tons of products (+30% y/y), and Turkey received 215,760 tons. The main surge in exports occurred in the third quarter (641,900 tons), which contributed to a significant increase in annual export volumes.

Ukrainian steelmakers’ export revenues for the year increased by 52.4% – to $927.55 million.