USA increased imports of pig iron from Ukraine by 2.1 times y/y in the first half of the year

In January-June 2023, the United States increased imports of pig iron from Ukraine by 2.11 times compared to the same period in 2022, to 628.84 thousand tons. At the same time, compared to January-June 2021, the indicator decreased by 15.5 %. This is evidenced data UN Comtrade.

In June this year, Ukrainian companies of the mining and metallurgical complex shipped 85.29 thousand tons of pig iron to the USA, which is 31.2% less compared to May. At the same time, compared with June 2022, the indicator increased by 2.34 times.

In general, since the beginning of 2023, there has been a sharp increase in the export of Ukrainian pig iron to the United States, in particular, in January and February, the volume of shipments was 116.9 thousand tons and 156 thousand tons, respectively. At the same time, the February figure is the highest since September 2021, when Ukraine shipped 185.6 thousand tons of pig iron to the United States. In 2022, the average monthly volume of shipments was 45.85 thousand tons. In June 2023, the volume of imports of Ukrainian pig iron decreased, probably due to a general decrease in exports of products from Ukraine due to the consequences of the explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP by Russian troops.

It should be noted that according to the results of January-June 2023, Ukraine exported 799.7 thousand tons of pig iron, which is 26.1% more compared to the same period in 2022. In June, the indicator increased by 75.5% compared to the previous month and by 35.7% y/y – up to 169.3 thousand tons

Thus, the US is the main consumer of cast iron from Ukraine. US consumers are shipped 78.6% of total exports, the EU accounts for 21.4%.

As GMK Center reported, Ukraine in June this year reduced iron smelting by 19.4% compared to May of this year and increased by 40.9% compared to June 2022 – up to 486 thousand tons. In 6 months, metallurgists produced 2.84 million tons of pig iron, which is 37.5% less y/y.