Austria reduced rolled steel imports from third countries by 68.2% y/y in October

In October 2023, Austria reduced imports of rolled steel products from third countries by 68.2% compared to October 2022, to 6.57 thousand tons. This is according to GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.

In October, imports of flat products fell by 73% y/y, and imports of long products fell by 61.2% y/y – to 3.29 kt and 3.28 kt, respectively. Flat products accounted for 50% of total steel imports to Austria in October.

The bulk of imports in October came from flat products made of other alloy steels – 1.76 thousand tons (-13.9% y/y), and other alloy steel bars and rods, hollow bars and bars for drilling – 1.06 thousand tons (-29.8% y/y).

In January-October, imports of rolled steel products to Austria amounted to 135.87 thousand tons, down 34% compared to the same period in 2022. Imports of long products fell by 40.4% y/y – to 40.05 thousand tons and flat products by 30.9% y/y – to 95.82 thousand tons during this period.

The main types of products imported by Austrian consumers in the first 10 months of 2023 were:

• flat hot-rolled steel – 65.61 thousand tons (-33.5% y/y);
• flat rolled products from other alloy steels – 19.61 thousand tons (+76.5% y/y);
• other rods and bars of alloy steel, hollow bars and bars for drilling – 12.06 thousand tons (-3.9% y/y).

In October 2023, steel exports from Austria increased by 0.5% y/y – to 75.21 thousand tons. Shipments of long products decreased by 0.7% y/y – to 11.14 thousand tons, while shipments of flat products increased by 0.7% y/y – to 64.1 thousand tons. In January-October, the figure decreased by 3.1% y/y – to 781.72 thousand tons, including flat products by 1% y/y – to 680.4 thousand tons and long products by 15.6% y/y – to 101.33 thousand tons.

The largest exports were of flat products from other alloy steels – 310.44 thousand tons (+4.8% y/y) and hot-rolled flat products – 199.66 thousand tons (-8.9% y/y).

In January-October steel production in Austria amounted to 5.97 million tons, which is 6.5% less compared to the same period in 2022. In October, the country’s steelmakers increased steel production by 12.3% compared to the previous month and decreased by 3% y/y – to 577 thousand tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, Austrian steelmakers reduced steel production by 4.7% compared to 2021 – to 7.51 million tons. In December 2022, 560,000 tons of steel were produced, which is 13.8% less y/y and by 0.5% more m/m.