Ukraine's apparent consumption of steel products dropped 9.6% year on year to 2.55 million tonnes in January-August 2026, according to data from industry association Ukrmetallurgprom.

Imports made up 45.2% of domestic consumption at 1.15 million tonnes. For comparison, domestic consumption totaled 2.81 million tonnes in January-August 2025, with imports of 1.04 million tonnes, accounting for 37% of the total.

Imports were still dominated by flat-rolled products versus long products at 67.98% and 25.97% respectively, though the gap narrowed from the same period of 2025 when flat-rolled goods represented 70.24% and long products 20.96%.

Ukrainian mills produced 3.59 million tonnes of rolled steel over the eight-month period, down 15.6% year on year. Exports totaled 2.19 million tonnes, equivalent to 61.2% of total output. In the same period last year, exports stood at 2.48 million tonnes, or 58.3% out of total rolled steel output of 4.25 million tonnes.

Semi-finished products took 41.44% (910,000 tonnes) of exports, sharply higher than 32.37% a year earlier. The proportion of flat-rolled products in exports was largely unchanged year on year, while the share of long products slipped to 14.34% (315,000 tonnes) from 23.26% in January-August 2025.

The EU remained the top export destination for Ukrainian rolled steel at 82.3%, followed by other European countries (9.1%) and CIS nations (6.7%), according to Ukraine's State Customs Service. On the import side, other European countries led at 49%, ahead of Asia (26.1%) and EU 27 (16.8%).