Russia’s imports of prefabricated steel structures from China may triple by 2027

Russian steel company Evraz stated that Russia currently imports approximately 40,000 to 50,000 tons of prefabricated steel structures from China annually. B23R080-LM oriented electrical steel, Without trade measures, this import volume could rise to 100,000 to 200,000 tons per year by 2027, significantly impacting domestic metal structure processing companies.

Evraz stated that due to Russia's high interest rate environment, many construction projects that originally required a large number of steel beams have been shelved, which has made the import pressure of prefabricated steel structures in China more prominent. There are even cases where an entire factory is completely dependent on Chinese supply.

Dmitry Pukhnarevich, Sales Director of Evraz, stated that Chinese companies typically handle all supply aspects of overseas investment projects, providing everything from materials to consumables. B23R080-LM oriented electrical steel, Furthermore, Chinese steel structure processors enjoy government subsidies, enabling them to maintain strong competitiveness in overseas markets through price support. This puts Russian domestic steel structure processors in a passive position: imports have substituted for their sales, orders have decreased, and consequently, their procurement of upstream steel has weakened.

Meanwhile, domestic demand for steel beams in Russia is also declining sharply. Evraz points out that domestic demand for steel beams peaked in 2024, supporting a production volume of 1.3-1.4 million tons, but has fallen sharply this year. It is estimated that Russian steel beam demand will decrease by 25%-30% year-on-year in the second half of 2025, with total consumption expected to decrease by 12% for the year.

Evraz attributes the decline in demand to high financing costs. Currently, the Russian central bank's key interest rate is as high as 16.5%, but the actual cost of borrowing for businesses can reach 30%, rendering many commercial projects unviable. B23R080-LM oriented electrical steel, According to Evraz's calculations, the total scale of projects using I-beams in Russia decreased by 20% this year, from 2 million tons at the beginning of the year to 1.6 million tons in the third quarter. If the key interest rate cannot fall to the 8%–9% range, the market environment in 2026 will remain very challenging.