EU increased imports of steel products by 4% y/y in January-February – EUROFER

In January-February 2024, the European Union (EU) increased steel imports from third countries (rolled products and semi-finished products) by 4% compared to the same period in 2023. This is stated in the Association’s review «Economic and steel market outlook 2024-2025, second quarter».

Imports of rolled products during this period increased by 20% compared to January-February 2023, in particular, flat products – by 33% y/y, and long products – decreased by 15% y/y.

In 2023, the EU reduced steel imports from third countries by 8.5% y/y after falling by 7% y/y in 2022. Imports of rolled steel products decreased by 11% y/y, including flat products – by 8% y/y and long products – by 22% y/y.

«Therefore, the share of imports out of apparent consumption has remained considerably high in historical terms, even in the third quarter of 2023 (27%),» the association notes.

The main countries of origin of imports in January-February 2024 were India (320 thousand tons), Turkey (275 thousand tons), South Korea (255 thousand tons), Vietnam (239 thousand tons), Taiwan (232 thousand tons), Japan (201 thousand tons) and China (177 thousand tons). They accounted for 55% of total imports of rolled products to the EU.

The largest import volumes were hot-rolled steel (996 thousand tons), hot-dip galvanized steel (377 thousand tons), and wire rod (255 thousand tons).

As GMK Center reported earlier, EUROFER expects apparent steel consumption in the European Union to grow by 3.2% in 2024 compared to 2023, to 130 million tons. The previous forecast envisaged an increase of 5.6% y/y – to 137 million tons. Expectations for growth in apparent steel consumption in the EU in 2025, on the contrary, improved from +2.9% to +5.4%, to 137 million tons.