The blockade of the ports of Greater Odesa has effectively deprived Ukrainian mining and metallurgical companies of the ability to operate normally for export. Ukraine could lose around $500 million in export revenues in the second half of the year alone, Ekonomichna Pravda reports.<\/p>\n
The iron ore sector has been hit hardest by the port blockade. It has traditionally relied heavily on maritime shipments to China and other distant markets. In 2025, Ukraine exported more than 31 million tonnes of iron ore, with around 55%, or nearly 17 million tonnes, shipped by sea.<\/p>\n
Production at the Poltava and Southern Mining and Processing Plants (GOKs) has already been halted due to the port blockade. Experts warn that if maritime shipping does not resume, production stoppages could spread to other companies within weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompanies do not have the margins to absorb such logistics costs. Exporting through western border crossings has become unprofitable. It is cheaper to temporarily halt mining altogether,\u201d Oleksandr Kalenkov, president of Ukrmetprom, told the publication.<\/p>\n
According to journalists, a tonne of iron ore costs around $100 in China, while transportation by rail to Gdansk, Poland, alone adds at least $68 per tonne. The route through Constan\u021ba, Romania, could be even more expensive.<\/p>\n
The situation is further exacerbated by high electricity prices, falling global iron ore prices, the introduction of the EU\u2019s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), EU quotas and a 30% increase in Ukrzaliznytsia railway tariffs. Under these conditions, land-based logistics are not only more expensive but also physically incapable of replacing maritime volumes.<\/p>\n
Journalists emphasize that companies without significant domestic consumption of iron ore remain the most vulnerable. For example, Ferrexpo does not have its own steelmaking facilities in Ukraine, meaning its business is entirely dependent on exports \u2014 all of its pellets were shipped abroad. Therefore, without additional financing and a resumption of full-scale shipments, the company says Ferrexpo\u2019s available cash resources will last only until mid-September.<\/p>\n
The situation is no better for Metinvest. The group warned that production at its United Mining and Processing Plant (Northern, Central and Inhulets GOKs) could fall by 30% in August, reducing monthly rail shipments of GOK products by 1.3 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
The 30% increase in Ukrzaliznytsia tariffs has placed an additional burden on the company. Combined with longer logistics routes, it has increased the share of railway transportation costs in the cost of steel production by two to three times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis threatens the survival not only of the GOKs but also of steel mills, because producing one tonne of steel generates four tonnes of rail transportation,\u201d Metinvest said.<\/p>\n
According to estimates by Dragon Capital, if maritime iron ore exports remain blocked, Ukraine could lose around $500 million in export revenues in the second half of the year alone. However, the consequences extend far beyond the industry itself, including lower tax revenues, foreign-currency earnings and Ukrzaliznytsia\u2019s freight volumes, as well as job losses in industrial regions.<\/p>\n
Restoring the safe operation of the maritime corridor should become a government priority. At the same time, domestic tariff pressure needs to be reduced, while Ukraine should seek EU support for alternative routes and the revision of trade restrictions, the publication concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":152083,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-152082","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/152082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=152082"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=152082"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=152082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}