Margins in the steel trading market in Ukraine rarely exceed 5% today

The Ukrainian steel products market ended last year with cautious optimism, but the beginning of 2026 brought new challenges. The energy crisis, logistical problems due to shelling of ports, and an increasing labor shortage created difficult conditions for business.

Steel products sales dynamics

Last year, our company recorded a 20% increase in sales. The largest growth was in the segment of I-beams, sheet steel, and 355 steel profile pipes. The smallest increase was recorded in the angle bar segment.

However, I do not believe that this indicates overall market growth. Rather, it is the result of our company’s development: we have significantly increased our warehouse stocks, increased the number of managers, and intensified our sales and advertising policies. Competition in the market has increased—it has become tighter.

Throughout the year, we saw the usual seasonal patterns for construction: the beginning of the year was the worst period, the middle of the year was the best, and there was a slight decline in November and December. Last year’s construction season started a little late. It usually begins in late March or early April, but sales picked up somewhere in the second half of May.

Demand structure

The main demand is generated by private clients (commercial construction). Last year, logistics centers, warehouses, elevators, and sugar factories were actively built – all of them by private customers. Among our main clients are steel construction plants that work on private construction in western Ukraine.

As for government orders, I did not see any activity on the part of the state during the year. Only at the end of the year, in December, did something happen in the area of government procurement for the protection of energy facilities, when the story of possible blackouts began.

As for the regions, more than half of our sales are in central and left-bank Ukraine. I see growing activity in western Ukraine—the number of inquiries and orders is increasing.

Price dynamics

Over the past year, prices remained virtually unchanged. In the second half of the year, they rose slightly by 3–4%. Overall, there has been no significant price growth on the Ukrainian market.

At the end of the year, prices began to rise slightly due to an increase in currency exchange rates—the euro and dollar rose significantly. This affected the price of imported steel, but price competition is very fierce. Part of the exchange rate differences are simply “eaten up” by dealer margins, as there is no possibility of raising prices. Today, the market is as nationwide as possible – the net margin rarely exceeds 5%.

Impact of the energy crisis

The beginning of 2026 is not very active due to blackouts. Many customers have halted construction due to the lack of power supply. Metalworking plants are operating at half capacity at best, as there is no stable power supply. Everyone is working on generators. Some are unable to work at full capacity, so they have slowed down their work. This is noticeable in January.

Personnel crisis

The shortage of personnel continues to worsen. If last year the situation was catastrophic, now it is deteriorating before our very eyes. This leads to higher wages, and in a competitive environment, wage growth comes at the expense of margins.

Logistical problems

Much of the steel is imported from Turkey by barge. From the end of December and throughout January (after the Russians shelled the port of Odessa), there were problems with barges entering the port. As a result, there is now a local shortage of certain types of rolled steel. In the 30, 40, and 50 mm thick sheet segment, there is simply nothing on the market.

According to our colleagues in the market, there are currently many barges loaded with steel standing in Romanian territorial waters, waiting for the opportunity to unload at the port of Odessa. Many Turkish shipowners who used to deliver steel products to Ukraine have refused to enter Ukrainian ports. Only Ukrainian barges remain, of which there are few, and some of them have not yet been unloaded.

There are issues with unloading capabilities. First, the port of Odessa has been shelled, and second, it has been operating exclusively on generators for a long time and continues to do so. Its cargo handling capabilities are very limited. There was a period when ships did not enter the port at all due to the clearing of debris.