Ukraine’s metal market is undergoing a seismic shift, and the ripples are being felt well beyond its borders. In the first ten months of 2025, imports of metal products into Ukraine soared to 1.24 million tons—an 18.6% increase over the same period in 2024, according to Finway. This sharp uptick, driven largely by Turkish and Chinese manufacturers, is not only transforming Ukraine’s domestic industry but is also part of a wider global reckoning over supply chains and strategic materials.
Turkish producers have cemented their dominance in the Ukrainian import market, accounting for a commanding 58.8% share. Between January and October 2025, Ukrainian buyers imported 730,270 tons of metal products from Turkey, marking a staggering 32.5% jump from the previous year. China, too, is rapidly expanding its presence. Imports from Chinese suppliers surged 45.8% to 172,120 tons, giving China a 13.9% share of the market. These figures, reported by Finway, underscore a trend that’s raising eyebrows among industry insiders and policymakers alike.
But what’s driving this surge? For one, Ukraine’s own metal producers are losing ground at home. The influx of cheaper or more readily available foreign products has led to a noticeable decline in the share of Ukrainian-made metal products in the domestic market. Without systematic support for the national metallurgy sector, experts warn, Ukraine could soon find itself dangerously dependent on external suppliers for products that are critical to its infrastructure and economy. As Finway puts it, the growth in imports “may weaken Ukrainian producers and increase dependence on foreign suppliers of strategic metal products.”
This isn’t just a Ukrainian story. The world is grappling with the vulnerabilities that come with reliance on foreign—especially Chinese—suppliers for key industrial materials. Nowhere is this more evident than in the auto industry, where rare-earth metals have become both a linchpin and a headache. On November 25, 2025, The Economic Times reported that automakers are urgently seeking alternatives to rare-earth metals, which are essential for the magnets that power electric vehicle (EV) motors. The reason? China dominates the mining and processing of rare earths like neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, and has wielded this near-monopoly as a geopolitical lever.
Recent years have seen China impose export controls on some rare-earth materials, sometimes in apparent retaliation for trade measures from the United States. This year, Beijing briefly suspended some of its controls as part of a deal with the U.S. administration, but the threat remains. As Tom Moerenhout of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy told The Economic Times, “The question is not will there be a next event where rare earths are being weaponised, but rather when.”
For automakers, this uncertainty is more than just a supply chain hiccup—it’s an existential risk. A shortage of rare earths could bring assembly lines grinding to a halt. Companies like General Motors (GM) are hedging their bets. GM is sourcing rare earths from U.S. suppliers such as MP Materials, which mines in California and is building a refining facility in Texas. Under a 2021 agreement, GM has committed to buying most of the Texas plant’s output for its Cadillacs and Chevrolets. MP Materials also has deals with Apple and the Department of Defense, providing a measure of revenue stability that was missing during previous supply crises.
But GM isn’t stopping there. The company is also actively searching for ways to engineer rare earths out of its products altogether. “There’s nothing like not having to use rare-earth things, whether it’s magnets or batteries or whatever,” said Mark Reuss, president of GM, at a recent event in New York. The company declined to provide specifics, but the message is clear: the less dependent on rare earths, the better.
This approach is already bearing fruit for some. BMW, for instance, has developed electric motors that operate without rare earths. The iX sport utility vehicle, as well as the upcoming iX3 SUV set to debut in the United States next summer, use motors that rely on an electric current to generate the necessary magnetic field—sidestepping the need for neodymium or other rare earths. According to BMW engineer Stefan Ortmann, these motors are now more efficient than their rare-earth-dependent counterparts at everyday driving speeds. “We think it’s the sweet spot for us,” Ortmann said. The new version of the motor, to be installed in the iX3, is even more efficient and will allow the vehicle to travel up to 400 miles on a single charge.
Startups are also getting in on the action. In Sunnyvale, California, Conifer has developed a compact, disc-shaped electric motor that operates without rare earths. Initially targeting two-wheeled vehicles, Conifer hopes to scale up for cars in the coming years. “Demand is not a problem,” said Ankit Somani, a co-founder of Conifer. “Our main thing is how do we scale our production quickly.” Still, Somani admits that motors using rare earths can pack more power into a smaller package—a tradeoff that researchers and engineers are racing to overcome.
Meanwhile, scientists are exploring exotic alternatives. Laura Lewis, a chemical engineering professor at Northeastern University, and her team have managed to synthesize tetrataenite—a rare magnetic material found naturally only in meteorites—in a matter of weeks, rather than the millions of years it takes in nature. However, Lewis cautions that mass production is still a long way off. “It’s not a short-term solution,” she told The Economic Times.
The U.S. Department of Energy is encouraging these efforts, offering grants of up to $3 million to researchers developing alternatives to rare-earth magnets. The department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy expressed confidence that artificial intelligence could help accelerate new magnet discovery, though some experts question whether the ambitious targets can be met in the near term.
The stakes are high, both for national economies and the global transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy. As Ukraine’s experience shows, increasing dependence on foreign suppliers for critical materials can leave domestic industries vulnerable. And as the rare-earth saga in the auto industry illustrates, even the world’s largest economies are not immune to the risks of concentrated supply chains.
For now, the race is on—to secure materials, to innovate around them, and to ensure that the next supply chain shock doesn’t catch anyone flat-footed. Whether it’s metal pipes in Kyiv or electric motors in Detroit, the world is learning the hard way that resilience can’t be imported.
