Poland reduced rolled steel import from third countries by 8.7% y/y in September

In September 2023, Poland reduced imports of rolled steel products from third countries by 8.7% compared to September 2022, to 110.52 thousand tons. This is according to GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.

In September, imports of flat products increased by 0.6% y/y, while imports of long products decreased by 22.8% y/y – to 73.48 kt and 37.04 kt, respectively. Flat products accounted for over 66.5% of total steel imports to Poland in September.

Hot-rolled flat products accounted for the bulk of imports in September, with 39.74 thousand tons (-32.1% y/y), cold-rolled flat products – 8.45 thousand tons (+169.5% y/y), and coated flat products – 18.8 thousand tons (+176.5% y/y).

In January-September, imports of rolled steel products to Poland amounted to 1.33 million tons, down 24.6% compared to the same period in 2022. Imports of long products during this period fell by 20.8% y/y – to 394.89 thousand tons, and flat products by 26.1% y/y – to 934.3 thousand tons.

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

• flat hot-rolled steel – 542.4 thousand tons (-24.7% y/y);
• coated flat rolled products – 200.5 thousand tons (-27.7% y/y);
• flat cold-rolled steel – 120.7 thousand tons (-7.7% y/y);
• hot-rolled rods and bars in riots – 99.3 thousand tons (-39% y/y);
• alloy steel wire – 92.4 thousand tons (-13.1% y/y).

In September 2023, steel exports from Poland increased by 25.8% y/y – up to 26.24 thousand tons. Shipments of long products increased by 86.3% y/y – up to 13.23 thousand tons, while shipments of flat products decreased by 5.4% y/y – up to 13 thousand tons. In January-September, the figure increased by 18.2% y/y – up to 236.1 thousand tons, including 14.7% y/y – to 113.01 thousand tons of flat products and 21.6% y/y – to 123.1 thousand tons of long products.

In January-September Polish steelmakers produced 4.86 million tons of steel. This is 19.1% less compared to the same period in 2022. In September 2023, the indicator increased by 6.4% compared to the previous month and fell by 7.6% y/y – to 545 thousand tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, Poland reduced steel production by 8.6% compared to 2021 – to 7.73 million tons. Thus, the country took 22nd place in the global ranking of WorldSteel steel producers.