Price imbalance led to stagnation of the Ukrainian scrap metal market

The Ukrainian scrap metal market continues to stagnate. Scrap collection for 9 months decreased by 12.3% - to 2.19 million tons. It is expected that by the end of the current year, the drop will be 16.7%, to 2.8 million tons.
On the one hand, stagnation was caused by the crisis and a decrease in demand for scrap metal from the steel industry, which over 9 months reduced steel production by 6.2% - to 15.4 million tons. As a result, scrap collecting companies reduced the supply of scrap to metallurgists by 11.9% - to 2.06 million tons.
However, the key reason for market stagnation is the imbalance in domestic pricing caused by the imposition of an export duty of € 58 per tonne of scrap. Because of this, scrap collecting companies cannot export raw materials at world prices, and key consumers have no alternative to dictate prices on the domestic market.
The imbalance in prices is visible when comparing them - as of October 1, the internal price of scrap metal was at the level of UAH 5,700, or about $ 200 per ton, while quotations in Turkey - USD 290-300 per ton.
Due to the introduction of the duty, the export of scrap metal in 2019-2020. fell at times. For 9 months this figure decreased by 38% - to 25.2 thousand tons. It is expected that the export of scrap metal from Ukraine this year will amount to 30 thousand tons, or 26.6% less than in 2019.