Scrap Processors
June 14, 2023
Ukrainian scrap exports treble
Foreign shipments of ferrous scrap from Ukraine increased 3.1 times in a rising trend to 77,452 t year-on-year in the first five months of 2023, according to customs data.
Exports were 8,280 t in January, 16,500 t in February, 15,450 t in March, 16,190 t in April and 21,003 t in May. Most material went to Poland, taking 89.55% of the total.
Oleksander Kalenkov, president of sector association Ukrmetallurgprom, called for a temporary ban on the exports to provide steel enterprises with strategically important raw materials while the war with Russia continues.
“If scrap metal remains in the country, more than 500,000 people will have jobs, and the country will have millions of foreign exchange earnings from steel exports,” he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. “No one will benefit from the export of scrap metal.”
He said a tonne of scrap metal processed into steel boosts the budget ten times more than the export duty to the EU of about $300 /t.
According to the State Customs Service, the January-May scrap exports were worth $23.0 M (€21.4 M).
After no imports in the first two months of this year, 344 t was shipped into Ukraine between March and May.
