In July, Ukraine imported 199,706 tons of steel products, which is 20% more than last year. This led to a 7.1% increase in imports in January-July from the same period last year to 1.14 million tonnes, according to Metals Consulting International (MCI) data tracked by Kallanish.
The largest increase in July was provided by flat rolled products, imports of which increased by 50% year-on-year to 140,624 tons, which accounted for more than 70% of total steel imports for the month. Imports of metal-coated rolled products jumped 87% to 48,731 tons, an increase of almost 22,700 tons, while imports of organically coated rolled products increased 55% to 29,007 tons, an increase of more than 10,300 tons. Imports of unalloyed hot-rolled sheet increased by 81% to 21,246 tons, while cold-rolled sheet increased by 79% to 13,381 tons.
Despite the high figures in July, imports of flat rolled products in January-July remained virtually unchanged compared to the same period last year and amounted to 728,181 tons, an increase of only 0.3%.
Prolonged products were the main factor in the cumulative increase in imports. July imports increased by 54% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 44,651 tons, while volumes in January-July increased by 25% and amounted to 280,341 tons. The most impressive event was the production of wire rod: imports in July reached 15,851 tons, compared with almost zero a year earlier. As a result, wire rod imports more than tripled in January-July, by 214%, to 52,105 tons. The volume of rebar production also increased from 4,170 tons to 30,342 tons, although in July this figure was insignificant - only 35 tons.
The import of corners, profiles and cross-section profiles more than doubled from 4,508 tons to 10,366 tons. Nevertheless, imports of this category of goods in January-July decreased by 21.2% and amounted to 45,119 tons.
Imports of railway materials in July decreased by 61% to 3,045 tons, although total imports increased by 10.2% to 31,954 tons.
The most significant negative dynamics over the month was observed in the production of semi-finished products. Imports decreased by 95% year-on-year to just 1,588 tons in July from 31,016 tons. This is in sharp contrast to the general trend: imports of semi-finished products in January-July continued to grow by 46.8% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 68,738 tons. Pipe production volumes
andThey were relatively stable, increasing by only 4% in July to 12,843 tons, while imports in January-July decreased by 7.6% to 57,861 tons. The volume of production of hollow rolled products in July amounted to 5,041 tons, which remained virtually unchanged compared to the same period last year, but remained 12% lower overall. Overall, the increase in steel imports by 7.1% in January-July was