From January to August 2025, Ukrainian steelmakers reduced their flat rolled steel exports by 1.5% compared to the same period in 2024, reaching around 1.1 million tons, according to State Customs Service data analyzed by GMK Center.
More than 80% of these exports consisted of hot-rolled flat products (HS code 7208), totaling 911.94 thousand tons, down 4% year-on-year. The main destinations were Poland (373.19 thousand tons), Bulgaria (234.72 thousand tons), and Italy (55.89 thousand tons).
Cold-rolled flat products (HS code 7209) accounted for another 13.4% of shipments, or 147.69 thousand tons, an increase of 12.5% year-on-year. Poland was the largest buyer with 65.48 thousand tons, followed by Bulgaria (21.89 thousand tons) and Italy (17.06 thousand tons).
Exports of coated flat products (HS code 7210) rose 22.1% to 40.69 thousand tons, of which Poland received 26.4 thousand tons, Romania 8.89 thousand tons, and the Czech Republic 0.89 thousand tons.
In August alone, Ukrainian steelmakers exported 129.49 thousand tons of flat products, down 19.1% year-on-year but up 21.9% month-on-month. This included:
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Hot-rolled flat products: 103.6 thousand tons (–25.9% y-o-y; +23.4% m-o-m).
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Cold-rolled flat products: 18.39 thousand tons (+18% y-o-y; +2.2% m-o-m).
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Coated flat products: 7.42 thousand tons (+80.1% y-o-y; +78.3% m-o-m).
In value terms, flat steel export revenues for January–August fell 8.6% year-on-year to $629.99 million. In August, revenues declined 26.2% year-on-year but grew 9.6% month-on-month to $72.66 million.
It should be noted that in 2024, Ukraine increased its flat rolled steel exports by 36.1% compared to 2023, reaching 1.63 million tons. Hot-rolled products accounted for more than 80% of the total (1.363 million tons, +44.7% y-o-y), while cold-rolled products made up 12% (201.71 thousand tons, +0.7% y-o-y).
