In the morning — tanks, in the evening — scrap: Ukraine has sharply increased the export of scrap metal

According to the results of January-June 2024, Ukraine increased exports of ferrous scrap by 35.3% compared to the same period in 2023 — to 124.53 thousand tons. This is evidenced by data from the State Customs Service of the country, Ukrainian media reported today, July 25.

The main volume of exports of these products is directed to Poland — 108.37 thousand tons. 11.69 thousand tons of scrap metal were exported to Greece, 4.25 thousand tons to Germany.

The average monthly export volume for January-June amounted to 20.75 thousand tons compared to 15.34 thousand tons a year earlier. During June, Ukraine exported 22.16 thousand tons of scrap metal, which is 48.2% more than in the previous month and 51.8% more than in June 2023. Revenue from scrap metal exports increased by 45.9% YoY in 6 months to $39.76 million.

Ukrainian scrap-harvesting companies export about 15% of the harvested scrap, and the volumes consistently exceed 20 thousand tons per month, approaching the "pre-war" indicators, local commentators note. At the same time, scrap exports are carried out without paying a duty to the state budget.

The increase in shipments is taking place in conditions of complicated scrap collection due to military operations, since most scrap-harvesting enterprises before the outbreak of the armed conflict with Russia were located in territories over which Kiev had lost control, or in a combat zone.

Ukrainian experts call the lack of scrap sales by one of the main suppliers — Ukrzaliznytsia JSC - an additional factor of pressure on the local scrap market and the local metal harvesting industry. The railway operator stopped selling scrap metal back in September 2023, and this had an extremely negative impact on the market and the activities of the entire metallurgical industry of Ukraine.

It should be noted that the increase in scrap metal exports from Ukraine may be partly due to the extremely unfavorable situation at the front for the troops of the Kiev regime and heavy losses in armored vehicles: equipment supplied earlier by Western weapons sponsors is being melted down.