Ukrzaliznytsia increased exports of steel products by 36% in September 2022

In September 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) increased export shipments of ferrous metals by 35.7% compared to the previous month – to 380,000 tons. Shipments of steel products decreased by 70.1% y/y in September 2022. This was reported to the GMK Center by the press service of UZ.

In January-September 2022, Ukrainian steelmakers shipped 4.7 million tons of steel abroad by rail. This is 60.5% less than in the same period of 2021.

In connection with the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a significant decrease in steel products railway transportation has been observed since March 2022.

In total, since the beginning of the war (March-September 2022), Ukrzaliznytsia has transported 2.15 million tons of ferrous metals, while in January-February 2022, this index was 2.55 million tons. Currently, export volumes are limited by the carrying capacity of border crossings.

The average monthly indicator of steel products transportation during the war decreased to 307.1 thousand tons from 1.27 million tons in January-February 2022.

In January-September 2022, UZ transported 117.8 million tons of cargo, which is 48.7% less than in January-September 2021.

The general structure of transportation by Ukrzaliznytsia in January-September 2022 was as follows:

• export transportation – 39%;
• domestic – 50%;
• import – 9%;
• transit – 2%.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in September 2022, Ukrainian iron and steel companies shipped 1 million tons of iron ore for export by rail, which is 28.6% less than in the previous month. In January-September 2022, UZ reduced the export transportation of iron ore by 40% y/y – to 19.8 million tons.

Since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian steelmakers have experienced difficulties in shipping finished products for export. The blockade of the ports forced to reorient the shipment of products exclusively to the railway. Because of this, the company’s logistics costs have increased several times and the delivery time has increased significantly. Border crossings could not cope with such an influx of railcars, due to which railcars with products stood in queues for weeks. After the opening of the grain corridor, the situation has improved, but remains tense.

In 2021, Ukrazliznytsia increased railways shipment of finished steel products by 5.9% compared to 2020 – up to 21.7 million tons. Export transportation increased by 3.8% by 2020 – up to 15.7 million tons.