Ukraine has increased its scrap metal export to the EU by 1,600%.

According to Eurostat, in January-March of this year the EU increased the import of scrap metal from Ukraine by 1,600% compared to the same period last year, up to 38,640 tons. In March alone, European importers purchased 16,190 tons of Ukrainian scrap, which is 14.4% more compared to February, and 36.5 times more compared to March 2022.

The data indicates that the tendency to increase the export of scrap from Ukraine to the EU is gradually increasing – in January, 8,300 tons of Ukrainian raw materials were exported to the EU, and in February – 14,150 tons. The largest volumes of scrap metal are delivered to Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Slovakia.

Due to high export volumes, Ukrainian industry associations and experts are calling on authorities to temporarily ban scrap metal export by eliminating gray schemes at customs checkpoints and to provide the domestic market with these raw materials.