Italy imported 1.93 million tons of steel from third countries in January-April

In January-April 2024, Italy increased its imports of rolled steel products from third countries by 4.8% compared to the same period in 2023, up to 1.93 million tons. This is according to GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.

Imports of flat products increased by 16.4% y/y over 4 months, while imports of long products decreased by 40.9% y/y – to 1.71 million tons and 220.5 thousand tons, respectively. Flat products accounted for more than 88% of total steel imports to Italy in January-April.

Hot-rolled flat products accounted for the bulk of imports – 1.47 million tonnes (+28.5% y/y), flat products made of other alloy steels – 122.25 thousand tonnes (-27.3% y/y) and flat products made of corrosion-resistant steel – 110.6 thousand tonnes (-16.4% y/y).

In April, imports of rolled steel products to Italy totaled 653.93 thousand tons, up 13.8% y/y. Supplies of long products fell by 43.8% y/y – to 70.03 thousand tons, while flat products increased by 29.7% y/y – to 583.9 thousand tons.

Steel exports from Italy in January-April decreased by 1.6% compared to the same period in 2023 – to 885.4 thousand tons. In particular, exports of long products increased by 12.5% y/y – to 357.95 thousand tons, and flat products increased by 7.5% y/y – to 527.45 thousand tons.

The largest exports were made of coated flat products – 264.9 thousand tons (+16% y/y), hot-rolled flat products – 118.69 thousand tons (-11.4% y/y), wire – 85.83 thousand tons (-13.7% y/y) and rebar – 73.89 thousand tons (-6.3% y/y).

In April, Italy exported 233.62 thousand tons of rolled steel, up 10.2% compared to April 2022. Exports of long products increased by 3.7% y/y – to 96.3 thousand tons, and flat products by 15.2% y/y – to 137.35 thousand tons.

In 2023, Italy reduced imports of rolled steel from third countries by 3.8% compared to 2022, to 7.17 million tons, including flat products by 3.9% y/y and long products by 3.6% y/y, to 6.35 million tons and 815.3 thousand tons, respectively.

Last year, steel exports from Italy increased by 4.2% compared to 2022 to 2.03 million tons. Shipments of long products increased by 6.8% y/y – to 1.18 million tons and flat products by 0.7% y/y – to 856.91 thousand tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, Italian steelmakers reduced steel production by 2.5% compared to 2022, to 21.06 million tons. The decline in steel production was driven by a decline in global demand for steel products and high energy costs.

Long products production amounted to 11.68 million tonnes for the year, down 2.9% compared to 2022, and flat products production amounted to 9.54 million tonnes (-0.1% y/y).