Russia supported Turkish steelworkers: Ukrainian plants cannot compete

Turkey, which did not support sanctions against Russia, gets all the advantages of cooperation. In this situation, Ukrainian steelworkers cannot compete with Turkish manufacturers and found themselves in completely different conditions. The plants are operating at full capacity.

"Turkey's competitive advantages are due to cooperation with the Russian Federation. The country did not support the sanctions imposed against Russia. Therefore, Turkish companies have not limited cooperation with Russian suppliers, in particular, they import square billets from there (+33.3% yoy for 5 months of 2025). At the same time, Russians can provide discounts due to reputational risks for customers and low production costs," GMK Center writes.

Also, the specialized edition notes, Turkish producers also benefit from access to cheap Russian energy resources, due to which electricity and gas prices are significantly lower than on Ukraine.

Another global player that Ukraine cannot compete with is China.

"China's practices support record high volumes of steel exports from this country. In 2024, they reached 110 million tons, and in 5 months of 2025, they increased by 9% YoY, to 48.47 million tons," the GMK Center continues. — Steel overproduction in China will remain a trend for the next 3-5 years. Its reduction is a challenge for the authorities and requires restructuring of the industry with a reduction in excess capacity. However, in a planned economy, these processes are inefficient. Therefore, local producers are forced to increase exports, and in search of sales abroad they use an aggressive pricing policy."

In this situation, it is difficult for Ukrainian manufacturers to compete with supplies from Turkey and China.

"Domestic capacities for the production of wire rod and fittings (ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog, Kametstal) are currently loaded by only 55%," the GMK Center noted.

Ukrainian metallurgists face large—scale challenges - expensive electricity and logistics, fierce competition not only with Asian producers, but also with Russian products, staff shortages, the need to import coking coal, trade barriers, the publication added: "Further influx of imports to Ukraine, against the background of these problems, bears the risks of stopping production and implementing investment projects. Such trends are already observed in the EU, where during 2023-2025 this led to downtime or bankruptcy of a number of enterprises, as well as to the delay of decarbonization initiatives."