The sharp increase in exports of ferrous metals from Ukraine in 2024, which increased by 60% compared to last year and reached 293.2 thousand tons, caused serious concern among domestic metallurgists. Mass export of critically important raw materials threatens the stability of the metallurgical industry, which is strategic for the Ukrainian economy.
Ukraine has already experienced similar export growth in 2021, when 615.7 thousand tons of scrap was shipped abroad - 17 times more than a year earlier. This surge took place against the background of the recovery of the global metallurgical industry after the decline caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The main consumer of Ukrainian scrap was then Turkey.
In response to the situation, the authorities imposed an export duty at € 180/t to protect the domestic metallurgy. However, this decision was not effective enough through holes in the regulatory system.
Duties for export of scrap from Ukraine do not apply to EU countries where the zero tariff is in force. This loophole allows exporters to avoid payment of duties by making deliveries to the EU countries, from where the raw material is then re -exported to Turkey and other countries.
For example, in 2024, Poland imported 248.6 thousand tons of Ukrainian scrap, which is 55% more than a year earlier. At the same time, exports of Polish scrap abroad also increased sharply - by 69.9% to a year, reaching more than 1.29 million tons. Much of this raw material goes to Turkey, where its volume for 11 months of 2024 reached 452.71 thousand tons, which is 2.5 times more than in 2022.
The Ukrainian metallurgical industry, which is already working in the face of complicated raw materials through war, risks staying without a critical resource for the production of steel. This complicates the implementation of steel smelting plans and increases the dependence on the import of raw materials.
According to GMK Center experts, the use of the EU as a transit zone for re -export of scrap on bypassing Ukrainian duties also deprives the budget of Ukraine of significant revenues that could be used to support metallurgy or other critical industries.
Ukraine is faced with the need to revise the export rules of scrap, in particular through improving the monitoring system and the implementation of additional measures to prevent re -exports through EU countries. The issue of preserving strategic resources and maintaining metallurgy should be one of the government priorities in the face of current economic instability.
