MOLDOVA MAINTAINS LEAD IN IMPORTING UKRAINIAN METAL SCRAPS

In the first half of the year, Moldova maintained the lead in importing Ukrainian metal scrap, despite sanctions imposed by the neighboring country on the Moldovan Metallurgical Plant (MMZ).

According to the Ukrainian customs statistics of the fiscal service, for the first half of the year, the Ukrainian enterprises increased exports of metal scraps by 3.2 times in monetary terms, or compared to the same period in 2017 – up to US$89.1 million.

71.8% of the exports accounted for Moldova, 26.8% - for Turkey and 0.9% for the Netherlands.

In real terms, the ferrous scrap export has increased by 2.1 times to 270.3 thousand tons.

As already reported by Infotag, in May, Ukraine imposed sanctions against a number of Russian companies. At the same time, the list of companies also included the MMZ, which is located in the city of Rybnitsa in the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan Republic (PMR).

Special economic and other restrictive measures have been introduced for three years in the form of “blocking of assets, restriction of trade operations, prevention of capital retirement from Ukraine, suspension of economic and financial obligations, as well as a ban on public procurement.

Earlier, the Association of Metallurgical Enterprises the “UkrMetallurgProm” initiated a ban on the export of ferrous scrap from Ukraine due to its shortage for the domestic plants.

In particular, President of the Association Alexander Kalenkov proposed to ban the supply of scrap to Transnistria.

Infotag’s dossier: The MMZ is one of the largest Transnistrian enterprises. It was built in 1985. The plant specializes in the processing of ferrous scrap into metal. Its production capacity is about 1 million tons of steel per year and the same amount of rolled metal.

Due to the Ukrainian sanctions, the company was forced to look for new markets for the purchase of metal scraps.