Ukraine cuts base metal ore imports, coke and pig iron exports in H1

MOSCOW. July 15 (Interfax) - Ukraine reduced imports of base metal ores and exports of coke and pig iron in H1 2022, Ukrainian media quote State Customs Service data as saying.

Nickel

Imports of nickel ore and concentrates fell 50.2% year-on-year in tonnage in H1 2022 to 307,752 tonnes and 51.5% in value to $14.043 million. All the imports came from Guatemala in value terms.

Ukraine did not export or re-export nickel ore and concentrates in H1 2022.

Imports fell 20.6% to 1.236 million tonnes and 22.2% to $58.929 million in 2021, all of them from Guatemala. Ukraine did not export or re-export nickel ore and concentrates.

Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant LLC in the Kirovohrad region, part of the international investment group Solway, imports nickel ore and processes 1.2 million tonnes of it per year.

Bauxite

Ukrainian bauxite imports fell 64.7% to 938,221 tonnes and 60.8% to $47.324 million in H1 2022, mostly from Guinea - 59.94% in value, from Brazil - 27.67% and from Ghana - 7.61%.

Ukraine did not re-export bauxite in H1.

Bauxite imports fell 0.1% to 5.114 million tonnes but grew 4.2% to $236.638 million in 2021, and came from Guinea - 59.33% in value, from Brazil - 21.33% and from Ghana - 16.8%.

Ukraine re-exported 277 tonnes of bauxite for $70,000 to Belarus - 48.57%, to Poland - 40% and to Russia - 7.14%, after re-exporting 255 tonnes to Poland for 441,000 in 2020.

Mykolaiv Alumina Refinery LLC, which is affiliated to Russia's UC Rusal, imports bauxite to Ukraine. Rusal also owns a stake in Zaporizhia Aluminum Plant (ZAlK), which has stopped producing primary aluminum and alumina.

Titanium

Ukraine reduced exports of titanium ore and concentrates 46.2% year-on-year in H1 2022 to 157,296 tonnes and 21.1% to $60.645 million, mostly to the Czech Republic with 52.18% of exports in value, the United States with 15.28% and China with 6.71%.

Ukraine imported 100 tonnes for $138,000 from Senegal in H1 2022, compared with 446 tonnes for $400,000 a year previously, 93.5% of it from Senegal and 6.5% from Germany.

Exports grew 3% in 2021 to 553,051 tonnes and 17% to $161.914 million, mostly to Mexico with 21.23% in value, China with 18.17% and the Czech Republic with 14.07%.

Imports came to 1,172 tonnes for $1.227 million, mostly from Senegal with 87.03% and Germany with 12.97%, compared with 1,010 tonnes for $855,000 in 2020.

PJSC United Mining and Chemical Company's Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant in the Dnipropetrovsk region and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant in the Zhytomyr region mine titanium ores in Ukraine, as do Mezhdurechensk Mining and Concentration Complex LLC and Valki-Ilmenite LLC, both in Irshansk, Zhytomyr region.

Also, the Dnipro-based Velta production and commercial company has built a mining and concentration complex at the Birzulivske deposit with capacity of 240,000 tonnes of ilmenite concentrate per year. The holding company Velta Group Global Ltd. was registered in London in November 2011.

Coke

Ukraine slashed exports of coke and semi-coke 97.4% year-on-year in H1 2022 to 3,697 tonnes and 97.1% to $987,000, mostly to Hungary - 43.62% in value, to Georgia - 38.56% and to Turkey - 17.81%.

It imported 302,369 tonnes, up 75.8%year-on-year, for $145.638 million, up 2.8-fold, mostly from Russia - 52.03% in value, from the Czech Republic - 14.91% and from Poland - 22.83%.

Coke and semi-coke exports rose 3.3-fold to 194,535 tonnes and 4.8-fold to $41.838 million in 2021, mostly to Kazakhstan - 29.03% in value, to Turkey - 20.06% and to Algeria - 15.77%.

Imports rose 2.1-fold to 789,903 tonnes and 4.3-fold to $351.238 million and came from Russia - 65.48% in value, from the Czech Republic - 20% and from Poland - 8.45%.

Pig iron

Ukraine reduced conversion pig iron exports 57.1% year-on-year in January-June to 633,994 tonnes. The exports fell 53.6% in value, to $335.606 million.

Most of the exports went to the United States - 34.39% in value, to Turkey - 13.03% and to Poland - 32.1%.

Ukraine imported 15 tonnes of pig iron from Germany for $25,000 in H1 2022, compared with 133 tonnes for $138,000 from Germany, Russia and Slovakia in H1 2021, 57.97% of it from Germany, 33.33% from Russia and 8.7% from Slovakia.

Conversion pig iron exports grew 4.2% in 2021 as a whole to 3.236 million tonnes and 78.1% tonnes $1.643 billion, most of it to the U.S. - 53.61% in value, to Italy - 22.08% and to Turkey - 9.74%.

Ukraine imported 185 tonnes for $226,000 from Germany, Russia and Slovakia accounting for 74.34%, 20.35% and 5.31% respectively in value, compared with 593 tonnes for $417,000 in 2020.