Structural changes in the world metal trade and their impact on the development of Ukraine's metallurgy

The article analyzes the dynamics of structural changes in the world trade in metal products and finds out that the world market is uneven both geographically and by commodity structure and types of trade relations. At the same time, the analysis of world steel production shows that in the last quarter of XXI century, the center of global metallurgy shifted from developed to developing countries. Particularly notable in this context is the Asian region. The authors reveal that this shift is due to the innovative restructuring of the steel industry in the leading manufacturers, the impetus for which has been the desire of the industrialized countries for cleaner production. Data on the dynamics of international trade show that, over the past decade and a half, global steel exports increased almost 1.5 times. Despite the fact that the largest consumers of Ukrainian steel products during the period were the countries of the Asian region, the share of Ukraine's steel exports to these countries declined by 23.0 percentage points, primarily due to the complete reduction in exports to China. Summarizing the factors hindering the development of Ukraine's metallurgical industry allows defining the basic ones, which are the high dependence on external market and low domestic demand. In order to reduce the negative impact of the external factors on the development of Ukrainian domestic steel industry, the authors propose to focus on technological modernization of the steel plants and expansion of the domestic market through the development and implementation of large infrastructure projects.