The European Union continues to import significant volumes of metallurgical products from the Russian Federation, despite increasing sanctions pressure. According to Eurostat, from January to May 2025, EU countries imported 2.57 million tons of metallurgical products from Russia, which is 1.1% more compared to the same period last year. The value of this import reached €1.06 billion.
This is reported by Finway
Import Structure and Key Positions
The largest share of the supplies consists of semi-finished products. In the first five months of 2025, 1.49 million tons of such products entered the EU market, amounting to €681.93 million. The volumes of pig iron imports also significantly increased — countries in the bloc purchased 696,990 tons, which is 68.5% more compared to last year’s figures.
Decline in Profits of Russian Metallurgists
Despite the continued export, the financial indicators of the largest Russian metallurgical companies show a significant deterioration. In particular, the net profit of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works for the first half of 2025 decreased to ₽5.6 billion — approximately 89% less than in the same period last year. The company attributes this decline to weak business activity, a high key interest rate in Russia, which hinders domestic demand for metal products, as well as a decrease in the share of exports.
“In the third quarter, pressure on demand will persist, as the high key interest rate will continue to cool investment activity in construction and machine engineering.”
Moreover, a decline is also being recorded in other sectors of the Russian industrial sector. For instance, in June of this year, the production of passenger cars in the country decreased by 28.2% year-on-year, totaling 45,000 units.