In 2024, the European Union imported 5.34 million tons of products from Russia’s mining and metallurgy complex, reports GMK center. Despite sanctions, Russian producers continue to earn significant revenue from exporting products to the EU, with the amount exceeding €2.5 billion last year. This indicates the limited effectiveness of current restrictions and the existence of exceptions that allow Russian metallurgy to export to EU markets.
The largest volumes of supplies were in semi-finished products, amounting to 3.15 million tons, which is a 1.1% increase compared to 2023. The key consumers of Russian semi-finished products were:
- Belgium – 1.22 million tons (+5.4% year-over-year)
- Italy – 781.92 thousand tons (-9.9%)
- Denmark – 467.39 thousand tons (+6.5%)
- Czech Republic – 425.65 thousand tons (+11%).
The EU countries also imported 1.03 million tons of pig iron from Russia, which is a 26.9% decrease compared to 2023. Almost the entire volume of this raw material was consumed by Italy – 769.56 thousand tons, confirming its key dependence on Russian supplies. Another 147.72 thousand tons went to Latvia (+43.1% year-over-year), likely for re-export to other countries.
Iron Direct Reduction (DRI) also made up a large part of imports. In the past year, Russia sent 1.04 million tons of this product to the EU. The majority was imported by Italy – 487.99 thousand tons (-30.8% year-over-year), Belgium – 207.2 thousand tons (+0.7%), and Poland – 202.8 thousand tons (+210%).
Overall, Russian DRI supplies to the EU accounted for about 40% of all DRI imports to the EU, indicating a high current dependency of Europe's steel industry’s "green" transition on raw materials from Russia.
The import of iron ore from Russia to the EU significantly dropped in 2024, from 332.3 thousand tons to 9.36 thousand tons. At the same time, imports of ferroalloys increased by 36.6% year-over-year to 60.99 thousand tons, with the key destination being the Netherlands – 46.14 thousand tons (+40.1% year-over-year). Scrap metal imports amounted to 42.6 thousand tons (+33.5% year-over-year), mainly to Lithuania – 40.62 thousand tons (+29.6% year-over-year).
Despite sanctions, imports of Russian metal products to the EU remain significant. Some countries, such as Italy, Belgium, and the Czech Republic, continue to actively purchase Russian products.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, as a candidate and future member of the single European economic space, could replace Russian suppliers. Ukrainian manufacturers are capable of increasing the production and export of semi-finished products, pig iron, and DRI, which would help the EU reduce its dependency on Russian raw materials and simultaneously support Ukraine’s economy. However, this requires both additional investment in production capacities and the political will of European countries.
