USA increased pig iron import from Ukraine by 60.8% y/y in January-April

In January-April 2023, the United States increased the import of pig iron from Ukraine by 60.8% compared to the same period in 2022 – up to 419.59 thousand tons. At the same time, compared to January-April 2021, the indicator decreased by 20.2%. This is evidenced by UN Comtrade’s data.

In April 2023, Ukrainian iron and steel companies shipped 94.8 thousand tons of pig iron to the United States, which is 39.2% less than in March. At the same time, in April 2023, Ukrainian pig iron was not shipped to the USA.

In general, since the beginning of 2023, there has been a sharp increase in the export of Ukrainian pig iron to the USA, in particular, in January and February, the volume of shipments amounted to 116.9 thousand tons and 156 thousand tons, respectively. At the same time, the February indicator is the highest since September 2021, when Ukraine shipped 185.6 thousand tons of pig iron to the United States. During 2022, the average monthly volume of shipments was 45.85 thousand tons.

In January-April 2023, Ukraine exported 533.84 thousand tons of pig iron, which is 18.3% more compared to the same period in 2022. In April, the indicator decreased by 38.6% compared to the previous month and increased by 7.9% y/y.

At the same time, 98.72 thousand tons of products were shipped to the European Union in 4 months of 2023, which is 28.1% less compared to the same period in 2022. In April, the EU consumed 5.14 thousand tons of Ukrainian pig iron, which is 85.2% less m/m and 39.4% y/y.

Thus, the USA is the main consumer of pig iron from Ukraine. 78.6% of total exports are shipped to American consumers, 18.5% – to the EU.

As GMK Center repored earlier, Ukraine in April 2023 increased pig iron smelting by 16.7% compared to March 2023, and by 87.6% compared to April 2022 – up to 544,000 tons. In four months, steelmakers produced 1.75 million tons of pig iron, which is 54% less y/y.