Ukraine's steel industry faces potential export losses of 50-60% to the European Union after the trading bloc imposed new restrictions on imported steel, according to the sector's own estimates. The EU has capped duty-free steel imports at 18.3 million tonnes per year, a 47% reduction from 2024 levels, primarily to protect member states from competition with cheap imports from China and Turkey.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, chief executive of Metinvest, one of Ukraine's largest steel companies, told the BBC the restrictions were unfair and had been imposed "without any consideration for the situation Ukraine is in". He called for "at least a carve out" for Ukrainian producers to access the EU market. Despite a free-trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine, the agreement does not prevent the bloc from introducing separate trade protection measures.
A European Commission spokesperson said the EU "took into account the difficult situation" of Ukraine when setting its steel policy and had "offered compensations" to its largest suppliers, including Ukraine. The bloc confirmed that Ukraine has a specific steel quota guaranteeing exports, though at "a level lower than in the past years".
Steel production is critical to Ukraine's economy. Before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, metallurgy and mining accounted for roughly 10% of national income and a third of exports, with the EU as the top customer. However, the industry has been devastated by Russian bombardment. All of Ukraine's steel mills have been bombed since the conflict began, with strikes intensifying recently. In September, there was "no single tonne of steel produced" in Ukraine for the first time in about 150 years, Ryzhenkov said. Almost 800 Metinvest workers have been killed since the war began.
Ryzhenkov warned that losing 60% of available EU market access "doesn't help for the industry to survive" and said he expected the coming winter to be "one of the hardest in our history". The company has improved covered areas at its mills to shelter workers during air raids, though Ryzhenkov acknowledged that "you cannot cover a whole steel mill to avoid it being damaged".
For Ukrainian businesses and savers reliant on steel export revenues, the combined impact of Russian strikes and reduced EU market access threatens a crucial source of national income and foreign currency.