In January–July 2026, Ukrainian steelmakers saw their foreign currency revenue from ferrous metal exports fall by 7.6 per cent compared with the same period last year — falling to $1.678 billion from $1.816 billion.
This is according to data from the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
The share of ferrous metals in Ukraine’s total merchandise export revenue over the seven-month period fell to 6.95 per cent from 7.79 per cent in January–July 2025, a decrease of 0.84 percentage points.
Thus, metallurgical products continue to account for a significant proportion of Ukraine’s merchandise exports, although their share is declining against the backdrop of a fall in the sector’s foreign exchange earnings.
At the same time, imports of ferrous metals into Ukraine continued to rise. In January–July, they increased by 7.2 per cent to $1.023 billion.
Despite the contrasting trends in exports and imports, Ukraine maintained a positive balance of trade in ferrous metals of approximately $655 million over the first seven months.
The situation with metal products deteriorated in particular. Exports of these products fell by 10.8 per cent to $507.5 million, whilst imports rose by 6 per cent to $697.6 million. As a result, the foreign trade deficit in metal products stood at around $190 million.
By way of comparison: by the end of 2025, export revenue from ferrous metals had risen by 7.85 per cent to $3.339 billion, whilst their share of total goods exports stood at 8.25 per cent. In 2024, exports of ferrous metals increased by a further 16.9 per cent to $3.096 billion.
Thus, following two years of growth in the metallurgical sector’s export revenue, the trend reversed in 2026: revenue is falling, whilst imports of ferrous metals and metal products continue to rise.