Germany reduced imports of rolled steel from third countries by 51% y/y in October

In October 2023, Germany reduced imports of rolled steel products from third countries by 50.9% compared to October 2022, to 76.94 thousand tons. This is according to GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.

In October, imports of flat products fell by 13.7% y/y and long products by 56.8% y/y, to 18.35 kt and 58.59 kt, respectively. Flat products accounted for about 24% of total steel imports to Germany in October.

Other rods and bars of other alloy steels accounted for the bulk of imports in October, with 11.14 thousand tonnes (-53.8% y/y), other rods and bars, angles, shapes and special profiles of corrosion-resistant steel – 9.88 thousand tonnes (-4.3% y/y), and other rods and bars of carbon steel, not further processed, twisted – 8.7 thousand tonnes (-87.4% y/y).

In January-October, imports of rolled steel products to Germany amounted to 666.02 thousand tons, down 34.5% compared to the same period in 2022. Imports of long products fell by 36.8% y/y – to 524.57 thousand tons and flat products by 24.6% y/y – to 141.46 thousand tons during this period.

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

• other rods and bars of carbon steel, without further processing, twisted – 124.58 thousand tons (-48.9% y/y);
• other rods and bars of other alloy steels; hollow rods and bars for drilling from alloyed or non-alloyed steels – 98.6 thousand tons (-31.5% y/y);
• hot-rolled rods and bars made of carbon steel, in bundles – 68.78 thousand tons (-40.8% y/y);
• corners, shaped and special profiles made of non-alloy steel – 51.34 thousand tons (-37.3% y/y).

German steel exports in October 2023 fell by 3.1% y/y – to 269.88 thousand tons. Shipments of long products increased by 2.8% y/y – to 111.86 thousand tons, while shipments of flat products fell by 6.8% y/y – to 158.02 thousand tons. In January-October, the figure decreased by 9.4% y/y – to 2.82 million tons, including 10.5% y/y for flat products – to 1.65 million tons and 7.9% y/y for long products – to 1.17 million tons.

The largest exports were of coated flat products – 545.82 thousand tons (-8.7% y/y), and flat products made of other alloy steels – 356.36 thousand tons (-15.4% y/y).

In January-October, steel production in Germany amounted to 30.12 million tons, which is 4.1% less than in the same period in 2022. In October, the country’s steelmakers reduced steel production by 0.9% compared to the previous month to 2.88 thousand tons. The year-on-year decrease was 8.8%.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Germany is among the ten largest steel producers in the world according to World Steel. In 2022, the country decreased steel production by 8.4% compared to 2021, to 36.8 million tons, ranking 7th in the global ranking of producing countries.