Metallurgists are sounding the alarm: revenue from ore exports has fallen by 20%
According to the results of the first half of 2025, Ukrainian producers of iron ore dropped out of the top three largest exporters of the country: exports fell by 11.9% compared to the first half of last year, to 16.14 million tons. The reason is the global economic downturn, as well as the tariffs imposed by Ukrainian state monopolies, which make domestic producers unable to compete in foreign markets
Liga writes about this.
Net.
"Six months ago, thanks to the opening of navigation in ports, iron ore became one of the leaders in terms of export volumes – 33.6 million tons, an increase of 89%. Last year, the miners took the third place in terms of export earnings, behind suppliers of corn and wheat. But already in January-June of this year, iron ore did not even get into the top three most exported goods," the publication points out.
However, the contribution of mining and processing plants to strengthening the country's balance of payments remains significant: the share of iron ore in the total volume of domestic commodity exports is 6.35%.
"The main reason for the decline in iron ore exports, according to analysts, is the cooling of the global economy. Among the internal factors limiting the competitiveness of domestic products in the global market, market players and analysts primarily name abnormal costs. Enterprises incur significant additional wartime costs from high tariffs of state monopolies (Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrenergo, the Operator of the gas transmission system), the cost of imported energy in case of outages, staff shortages, work restrictions and direct losses from shelling," the Liga noted.
Net.
Government initiatives, in particular in the field of taxation, are also causing trouble for miners. Late reimbursement of value added tax (VAT) by the state exacerbates the problems of enterprises with working capital, said Lucio Genovese, interim Chairman of the Board of Ferrexpo.
According to the company's representatives, the forced reduction in production due to the suspension of VAT refunds led to the fact that more than a third of employees were transferred to reduced working hours or on vacation, the company reduced purchases of goods and services, as well as suspended all non-mandatory capital expenditures, CSR and humanitarian aid.
"Also, the factors limiting the competitiveness of domestic products include the recent decision of the Verkhovna Rada to increase the land tax for mining enterprises by 2.6 times.: This will lead to another increase in fixed costs of the mining and metallurgical complex and will negatively affect the weakened stability of the industry. As a result, manufacturers who suffer due to rising costs will suffer.