Ukraine is delaying the protection of metallurgists from cheap imports - an expert

Ukrainian manufacturers of metal products are losing their domestic market, income and resource for recovery due to the fact that the state is too slow to respond to the growth of cheap imports. This was stated by the director of the GMK Center analytical center, Stanislav Zinchenko, citing the example of welded pipes from Turkey.

According to him, the volume of such imports increased from 10,000 tons in 2021 to 50,000 tons in 2024 - five times. An anti-dumping investigation into these shipments began as early as January 2026, but has not yet been completed, and preliminary safeguard measures have not yet been implemented. The final decision is expected only in January 2027.

At the same time, Ukrainian legislation allows the introduction of preliminary anti-dumping measures already 60 days after the start of the investigation, if there are signs of dumping. "This means that the market could have been under protection for more than half a year. There is a tool, but it has not been used," Zinchenko noted.

Not the first case

The expert recalled two more similar examples. The investigation into Russian bars, despite trade restrictions of the Russian Federation against Ukrainian metal products after 2014, was completed by the Ukrainian authorities only in 2018. And the investigation into Chinese oil and gas pipes, the import of which increased from 15 to 30 thousand tons in 2016-2018, started only in 2019 - a duty of 51.5% was introduced in May 2020, when the market had already shrunk significantly. "Three cases with one scenario give reason to talk about a systemic problem," Zinchenko concluded.

The problem worsens against the backdrop of the shutdown of a part of Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises due to Russian shelling, export restrictions, high tariffs and an increase in imports. Low profitability in the domestic market in previous years did not leave companies with the financial reserve that is now needed to repair equipment and pay for more expensive energy and transportation.

According to Zinchenko, to resume production, enterprises need not only a working plant, but also a guaranteed sales market with a sufficient margin to cover Ukrzaliznytsia's tariffs and reconstruction costs. If the market remains filled with cheap imports, even ready-to-launch factories may not make economic sense to resume work - and Ukraine risks losing its own producers and becoming dependent on the prices of suppliers from Turkey or China. The expert called for Ukrainian customs rules to be brought closer to European ones, in particular, to take into account the origin of raw materials during customs control.