USA increased pig iron imports from Ukraine by 2 times y/y in January-May

In January-May 2023, the United States increased imports of pig iron from Ukraine by 2.08 times compared to the same period in 2022 – up to 543.55 thousand tons. At the same time, compared to January-May 2021, the indicator decreased by 26.9%. This is evidenced by UN Comtrade’s data.

In May 2023, Ukrainian iron and steel companies shipped 123.95 thousand tons of pig iron to the United States, which is 30.7% more than in April. At the same time, in May 2022, Ukrainian pig iron was not shipped to the United States.

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. During 2022, the average monthly volume of shipments was 45.85 thousand tons.

In January-May 2023, Ukraine exported 630.4 thousand tons of pig iron, which is 23.8% more compared to the same period in 2022. In May, the indicator increased by 14.4% compared to the previous month and by 1.7% y/y – up to 96.51 thousand tons.

Thus, the US is the main consumer of pig iron from Ukraine. 86.2% of total exports are shipped to American consumers, 13.8% fall to the EU.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Ukraine in May 2023 increased pig iron production by 10.8% compared to April 2023 and by 53.8% compared to May 2022 – up to 603 thousand tons. In 5 months, steelmakers produced 2.35 million tons of pig iron, which is 43.9% less y/y.