The European Commission has no plans to engage in fresh negotiations with Ukraine over its quotas following recent Russian airstrikes, which have stopped production at all major Ukrainian steel plants.
“There are no discussions planned with Ukrainian counterparts to renegotiate export quotas under the current EU’s Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA),” a European Commission’s spoke person tells Kallanish. “Trade data so far proves the fair and balanced nature of the revised amount covered by the TRQs as envisaged in the revised DCFTA.”
In July, the European Union cut annual tariff-free import quotas for Ukrainian steel by nearly half, reducing quotas to about 1 million tonnes, and introduced out-of-quota duties of 50%.
Metinvest’s chief executive Yuriy Ryzhenkov has previously urged for free access to the European market, as a key condition for the recovery of the Ukrainian industry after Russian strikes.
During August-September, Russia launched a series of targeted missile strikes on key Ukrainian steel plants, resulting in the suspension of operations by Zaporizhstal and Kametstal of the Metinvest Group, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR), and Interpipe.
ArcelorMittal has told the Ukrainian government it cannot safely and sustainably resume operations at AMKR. AM expects to record a non-cash impairment charge of approximately $1 billion, principally reflecting the impairment of its property, plant and equipment.
In 2027, Ukraine risks not producing a single tonne of steel and iron ore production could fall 37% year-on-year in 2026 and a further 55% in 2027.
Ukraine’s crude steel production has fallen sharply in September after the Russian attacks, according to national steel association Ukrmetallurgprom. Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises produced only 131,000 tonnes of steel during the month, a 52.7% decrease month-on-month and slumping 78.5% y-o-y.
Pig iron production amounted to 113,000t compared to 257,100t in the previous month, which was down 83.4% on-year while rolled production amounted to 137,000t compared to 269,500t in August, falling 76.7% on-year.
