““Ukrmetalurgprom” considers the government’s decision to temporarily limit the export of ferrous metal scrap to be economically justified / in photo ua.depositphotos.comThe Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted an economically justified…”, — write: www.unian.ua
“Ukrmetalurgprom” considers the government’s decision to temporarily limit the export of ferrous metal scrap to be economically justified / photo ua.depositphotos.comThe Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine made an economically justified decision by introducing a temporary restriction on the export of ferrous metal scrap for the entire year 2026, said Oleksandr Kalenkov, president of the Ukrmetallurgprom Association of Enterprises, which is the authorized representative of the domestic mining and metallurgical complex.
“Ukrmetalurgprom” welcomes the statesmanlike and strong-willed decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regarding the temporary restriction of the export of ferrous metal scrap. On December 31, 2025, the Government of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 1795, which introduces a zero quota for the export of scrap metal for 2026,” the Association said in a statement published on its website.
According to the document, in recent years, the volume of scrap metal exports from Ukraine grew at a record pace, which significantly worsened the security situation in the domestic metallurgical industry, increased the shortage of this raw material on the domestic market, and disrupted the stability of the work of metallurgical plants.
At the same time, as reminded in “Ukrmetalurgprom”, deliveries to European Union countries, de facto, became a scheme thanks to which scrap exporters avoided paying the export duty in the amount of 180 euros/ton to the Ukrainian state, since Ukrainian raw materials were re-exported through EU countries to Turkey and India. As a result, the state budget annually received several billion hryvnias in taxes, metallurgical plants suffered from a shortage of scrap metal, and strategic raw materials were exported abroad for the benefit of competitors of Ukrainian metallurgists.
“On behalf of all workers in the metallurgical industry, I would like to thank the Government and Prime Minister Yulia Svyridenko for taking this urgent and economically justified measure. It is beneficial for the state to leave all scrap metal inside the country, because metallurgical enterprises, processing raw materials, produce finished products, bring foreign exchange earnings from their export and ensure cash receipts for the budgets of all levels,” Oleksandr Kalenkov said in the statement.
He cited the latest expert calculations, according to which 1 ton of scrap metal processed into steel in Ukraine generates approximately UAH 14-15 thousand in taxes for the benefit of the state budget. “At the same time, scrap exporters, working mainly “in the shadows”, pay the state within 100 hryvnias per ton. Therefore, the temporary restriction of exports is a vital issue for the survival of Ukraine and providing the front with everything necessary,” stated the president of Ukrmetallurgprom.
In addition, Oleksandr Kalenkov emphasized that the relevance of scrap processing as a raw material for decarbonization of industry within the country has increased after the introduction of the carbon import adjustment mechanism (CBAM) by the European Union on January 1, 2026, i.e. duties on carbon-containing products, in particular, steel products.
“Unfortunately, Brussels did not foresee an exception for Ukraine in the introduction of this tariff. Therefore, scrap metal will help Ukrainian metallurgists to smelt steel with a lower volume of CO2 emissions,” he noted.
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