Italy reduced imports of rolled products from third countries by 14% y/y in September

In September 2023, Italy reduced imports of rolled steel products from third countries by 14% compared to September 2022, to 292.41 thousand tons. This is based on GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.

In September, imports of flat products decreased by 16.2% y/y, while imports of long products increased by 0.4% y/y – up to 246.7 thousand tons and 45.7 thousand tons, respectively. Flat products accounted for over 84% of total steel imports to Italy in September.

Hot-rolled flat products accounted for the bulk of imports in September, with 125.6 thousand tons (-25.6% y/y), cold-rolled flat products – 54.6 thousand tons (+12.8% y/y), and coated flat products – 35.2 thousand tons (+105% y/y).

In January-September, imports of rolled steel products to Italy amounted to 5.53 million tons, down 9.9% compared to the same period in 2022. Imports of long products during this period increased by 0.3% y/y – up to 642.4 thousand tons, while imports of flat products decreased by 11.1% y/y – up to 4.9 million tons.

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

• flat hot-rolled steel – 3.08 million tons (+11.7% y/y);
• coated flat rolled steel – 842.7 thousand tons (-23.7% y/y);
• flat  cold-rolled steel – 510.7 thousand tons (-25.7% y/y);
• flat rolled steel from corrosion-resistant steel – 287.2 thousand tons (-58.2% y/y);
• flat rolled products from other alloy steels – 280.4 thousand tons (-26.9% y/y).

Steel exports from Italy in September 2023 decreased by 7.5% y/y – to 156.23 thousand tons. Shipments of long products decreased by 5% y/y – to 88.8 thousand tons, and flat products by 10.6% y/y – to 67.4 thousand tons. In January-September, the figure increased by 6.7% y/y – to 1.57 mln tonnes, including flat grain by 2.4% y/y – to 647.8 thsd tonnes, and long grain by 10% y/y – to 919.9 thsd tonnes.

In January-September, Italian steelmakers reduced steel production by 3.1% compared to the same period in 2022  –to 15.97 million tons. In September, Italy increased its steel production by 2.4 times compared to the previous month and by 4.4% y/y – to 1.96 million tons.

Flat products production in the country in September 2023 increased by 14.4% compared to September 2022 – up to 827 thousand tons. Long products production amounted to 1.1 million tons, down 6.7% year-on-year.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, Italian steelmakers reduced steel production by 11.5% year-on-year – to 21.6 million tons. Last year, the country’s long products output decreased by 12% y/y – to 12.03 million tons and flat products output decreased by 13.8% y/y – to 9.55 million tons.