Currently, there is a surplus of supply in the Polish scrap metal market, while imports of raw materials are insignificant. Thus, Poland is a net exporter of scrap metal, Piotr Sikorski, president of the Polish Union of Steel Distributors (Polska Unia Dystrybutorów Stali, PUDS), said in a comment to Kommersant.
"Scrap imports to Poland are not very significant. In general, we have an excess of scrap in Poland. We export almost twice as many tons from Poland as we import into the country. For this reason alone, there is no need to fear that this decision (temporary restriction of scrap exports from Ukraine for a period of 1 year) will have a profound impact on our market or that the scrap will end soon," he said.
Answering the question why this issue is currently the subject of discussion in Poland, Peter Sikorski suggested that the issue lies in the competition for scrap, which is becoming crucial in the global metallurgical industry.
"Given the current decarbonization processes, the fight for scrap will undoubtedly escalate, because at some point it simply won't be enough. Everyone will need more and more scrap, including Poland, when we replace the last blast furnaces with electric ones, and capacity utilization will increase, which we all hope for. In a sense, scrap is becoming a strategic raw material, and the protection of domestic markets from scrap leakage is already noticeable in many regions of the world," said the chairman of PUDS.
Stanislav Zinchenko, head of the GMK Center analytical center, also says that the Polish scrap steel market is oversupplied. "Poles collect about 6.5-7 million tons of scrap per year. The demand of Polish metallurgical plants is 4-4. 5. that is, without any supplies from Ukraine, the supply exceeds the demand by 30-40%. It turns out that there is no shortage of scrap in Poland, there is an excess," he said.
According to him, all Polish metallurgical companies using scrap have an extensive network of scrap receiving points in their system and their steel production is not based on imported scrap metal. "Moreover, they export excess scrap to Turkey, and these exports from Poland range from 1.5 to 2 million tons each year. That is, as a conclusion, Polish metallurgical companies have no need for Ukrainian Scrap," Stanislav Zinchenko emphasized.
As previously reported, at the end of 2025, the Government of Ukraine decided to temporarily restrict the export of scrap metal until the end of 2026. According to Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, scrap is a critically important raw material for the Ukrainian metallurgy and Foundry industry.
"Despite the effect of the export duty, scrap exports were growing, often in transit to third countries without creating added value for Ukraine. Domestic processing, on the contrary, provides jobs, taxes, and
