In January-March of this year, Ukrainian enterprises increased exports of ferrous scrap by 32.04% compared to the same period last year, to 80.888 thousand tons from 61.261 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (GMS) on Tuesday, 39,908 thousand tons were exported in March (+57.8% compared to February), in February - 25,284 thousand tons of scrap (+61% compared to January), in January - 15,696 thousand tons.
In monetary terms, scrap metal exports in January-March increased by 25.1% to $24.302 million from $19.431 million.
During the specified period, scrap metal was exported mainly to Poland (88.03% of shipments in monetary terms), Greece (6.95%) and Germany (2.51%).
In the first quarter, Ukraine imported 25 tons of scrap metal worth $8,000 from Poland (85.71%) and the British Virgin Islands (14.29%).
As reported, on March 28, 2025, a working meeting on providing Ukrainian steel producers with raw materials was held in the Verkhovna Rada, which was attended by representatives of metallurgical enterprises, the government and people's deputies. At the meeting, Dmitry Kisilevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, stated that Ukraine currently has a duty of EUR180/ton on scrap metal exports, which applies to all countries except the EU. This duty will continue to apply to supplies to Turkey after the signing of the FTA agreement.
The MP noted that another important topic was also discussed at the meeting - circumvention of the current scrap duty through transit by EU countries.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, last year almost 300 thousand tons of ferrous scrap with zero duty were exported from Ukraine to the EU. The lion's share of these exports in transit through Constanta and other ports went to Turkey and other countries, avoiding paying the duty of EUR180 per ton - this is about 2 billion UAH of lost revenue to the state budget. Kisilevsky stressed that if this scrap went to Ukrainian factories, it would create more added value in production, more taxes, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces could receive more funds to finance Ukraine's defense needs.
"Therefore, taking this into account, Ukraine should start consultations with European partners regarding their ability to track the end user of raw materials, as well as regarding other more applied measures to ensure that these scarce raw materials remain and are processed in the country (Ukraine should be as firm as possible in defending its own national interests," the parliamentarian concluded.
As reported, Ukrainian scrap harvesters in 2024 increased exports of ferrous scrap by 60.7% compared to 2023, to 293,190 thousand tons from 182,465 thousand tons. In monetary terms, export
