Ukrainian bitumen import volumes are set to hold steady or increase slightly this year, according to European bitumen suppliers to Ukraine.
Major refinery suppliers in Poland and Lithuania of the heavy product used in road paving and general construction work expect little change in their exports to Ukraine — mostly by truck — this year after Ukraine's bitumen imports jumped by 111,700t on the year in 2025 to 190,000t. Last year, Ukraine imported its highest volumes since 2021, the year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that started the prolonged war.
The latest monthly data show the country's bitumen imports edged up by 1,000t in January this year compared with the same month in 2025 to stand at 2,900t. This comes even though little road paving work is recorded during the winter months.
Polish refiner and bitumen producer Orlen is looking to export around 100,000t of bitumen to Ukraine from its Polish and Lithuanian refineries this year, with potentially additional spot sales during the course of 2026.
Market participants remain upbeat on Orlen's sales plan as its 373,000 b/d Plock refinery sold at least 95,000-100,000t into Ukraine in 2025, while the firm's Lithuanian arm Orlen Lietuva sold another 40,000t into Ukraine from its 190,000 b/d Mazeikiai refinery.
The latter sold 1,300t into Ukraine in January 2026 and 7,600t in December 2025. But Orlen will shut the vacuum residue unit at its 374,000 b/d Plock refinery for planned maintenance work in the third quarter of this year, likely hitting bitumen production and supply. The Mazeikiai refinery is to undergo maintenance for around 30 days starting in March.
Orlen Lietuva's overall bitumen sales from its Mazeikiai refinery totalled around 621,000t last year, up from 450,000t in 2024, according to sources familiar with the business. The 2024 dip in production was because of two lengthy periods of refinery maintenance.
The firm expects total planned sales to be around 550,000t in 2026 with a possible increase based on Ukrainan demand, they added. Orlen Lietuva does not have term contracts with Ukraine and sales are based on a spot basis.
The Plock refinery in Poland produced around 700,000t of bitumen in 2025, around the same level as in 2024.
Unimot, Poland's independent supplier of oil products, including bitumen, is planning to export around 20,000-30,000t of bitumen to Ukraine from its Jaslo terminal this year, up from 10,000t in 2025, according to a regional market participant familiar with such flows. But in the current low season demand conditions, margins from such export sales remain low, discouraging exports.
In March-December last year, Ukraine additionally imported 24,000t of trucked bitumen from the eastern Romanian bitumen terminal at Galati that sits along the Danube close to the Romanian Black Sea, according to figures compiled by Romanian market participants. Vitol's Romanian arm, Vitaro, which operates the bulk of tank storage capacity at the Unicom terminal in Galati, exported 19,000t of that total.
A Russian drone strike on Ukraine's Odessa region in August last year caused damage to the country's Danube river port at Izmail that has since halted what had been occasional and small-scale bitumen cargo flows to Izmail from Galati along the Danube. The attack followed two consecutive part-cargo deliveries of bitumen over the previous month — each amounting to around 2,500-2,600t of the heavy oil product used in road paving — on board the 4,881dwt bitumen tanker My Worry after loadings at Motor Oil Hellas and Helleniq Energy export terminals in Greece.
