Belgium increased rolled steel import from third countries by 19.5% y/y in September

In September 2023, Belgium increased imports of rolled steel products from third countries by 19.5% compared to September 2022, up to 211.2 thousand tons. This is based on GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.

In September, imports of flat products increased by 29.9% y/y, while imports of long products decreased by 23.6% y/y – to 184.9 thousand tons and 26.3 thousand tons, respectively. Flat products accounted for more than 87% of total steel imports to Belgium in September.

Hot-rolled flat products accounted for 78.24 thousand tons (+20.5% y/y), coated flat products – 65.75 thousand tons (+185.2% y/y) and cold-rolled flat products – 27.79 thousand tons (-14.6% y/y).

In January-September, imports of rolled steel products to Belgium amounted to 3.49 million tons, down 22% compared to the same period in 2022. Imports of long products fell by 21.6% y/y – to 748.8 thousand tons and flat products by 22.1% y/y – to 2.74 million tons during this period.

The main types of products imported by Belgian consumers in 9 months of 2023 are:

• flat hot-rolled – 1.06 million tons (+3.9% y/y);
• coated flat rolled steel – 987.99 thousand tons (-31.1% y/y);
• cold-rolled flat products – 506.98 thousand tons (-25.9% y/y);
• hot-rolled rods and bars in riots – 283.77 thousand tons (-9.9% y/y).

Steel exports from Belgium in September 2023 increased by 14.7% y/y – up to 176.74 thousand tons. Shipments of long products increased by 17.1% y/y – up to 7.44 thousand tons, and flat products by 14.6% y/y, up to 169.3 thousand tons. In January-September, the figure increased by 1.7% y/y, to 1.56 million tons, including 1.6% y/y, to 1.49 thousand tons of flat products and 4.1% y/y, to 66.89 thousand tons of long products.

The largest exports were of flat products made of other alloy steels – 489.65 thousand tons (-4.4% y/y), and coated flat products – 385.14 thousand tons (+10.3% y/y).

In January-September, steel production in Belgium amounted to 4.78 million tons, which is 9.3% less than in the same period in 2022. In September, the country’s steelmakers increased steel production by 4.1% month-on-month to 480 thousand tons. The figure was down 7.5% year-on-year.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, Belgian steelmakers reduced steel production by 0.4% compared to 2021, to 6.94 million tons. In December 2022, 667 thousand tons of steel were produced, up 13.8% y/y and 28.3% m/m.