The European Union reduced imports of pig iron from Ukraine by 27.3% y/y in the first quarter

In January-March 2023, the European Union reduced the import of pig iron from Ukraine by 27.3% compared to the same period in 2022 – to 93.58 thousand tons. The import of products in monetary terms decreased by 33.4% y/y – to €43.55 million. This is evidenced by Eurostat’s data.

In the first quarter of 2023, the largest importers of Ukrainian-made pig iron among the EU countries were:

• Italy – 38.24 thousand tons (-54.8% compared to January-March 2022);
• Poland – 22.8 thousand tons (-5.1% y/y);
• Spain – 21.31 thousand tons (+40.6% y/y);
• Belgium – 6.73 thousand tons (+26.6 times y/y).

In March 2023, the EU countries reduced the import of pig iron from Ukraine by 6.7% compared to February – to 34.79 thousand tons. At the same time, compared to March 2022, deliveries of Ukrainian products to European steelmakers increased by 3.99 times. The costs of European steelmakers on imports amounted to €16.84 million, which is 3.6 times more than in March 2022, but 2.1% less than in February 2023.

In March 2023, Italy consumed 14.5 thousand tons of Ukrainian pig iron, which is 28.9% more than in February. In March 2022, Ukraine did not export pig iron to Italy. In March, Poland increased imports of pig iron from Ukraine by 2.1 times m/m and by 83% y/y – up to 10.21 thousand tons. Deliveries to Spain amounted to 5.41 thousand tons, which is 66% less m/m, but 85.5% more y/y.

In the first quarter of 2023 Ukrainian steelmakers reduced pig iron production by 65.7% compared to the same period in 2022 – to 1.02 million tons. In March, pig iron production increased by 32% compared to February, and by 2.13 times compared to the same period in 2022 –up to 434 thousand tons

Export of pig iron from Ukraine for January-March 2023 amounted to 449.5 thousand tons, which is 2% more compared to the same period of 2022. In March, deliveries of pig iron abroad decreased by 22.4% m/m, but increased 11.4 times by March 2022 – up to 137.4 thousand tons.

The main consumers of Ukrainian pig iron in the first quarter of 2023 are Poland (56.8% of deliveries in monetary terms), Spain – 18.6% and Italy – 11.7%.