The consumption of rolled steel in Italy fell by 12.1% y/y in January-July

In January-July 2023, Italy enterprises reduced the consumption of rolled steel by 12.1% compared to the same period in 2023 – to 14.71 million tons. This is evidenced by the calculations of the GMK Center based on the database of Eurostat and the Italian steel association Federacciai.

In 7 months, 9.13 million tons of rolled steel (sorted and flat rolled products) were imported into Italy, which is 13.6% less compared to the same period in 2022. At the same time, imports from third countries amounted to 4.92 million tons (-7.8% y/y), and from EU countries – 4.2 million tons (-19.5%). Import deliveries make up 62% of the domestic market of rolled steel consumption in Italy. The share of the imported component in the domestic consumption of steel products fell by 1 p.p. y/y.

The import structure is characterized by a significant dominance of flat rolled products over graded products – 82.4% and 17.6%, respectively. In the same period of 2022, the dominance of flat rolled products over graded products was slightly higher – 83.1% and 16.9%, respectively.

In general, in January-July 2023, Italian steelmakers produced 13.14 million tons of rolled steel, which is 4.3% less compared to the same period in 2022. 7.55 million tons of products were shipped for export, which is up by 0.1% y/y, in particular to third countries – 1.29 million t (+8.2% y/y), and to the EU market – 6.26 million tons (-1.4% y/y). 5.59 million tons of rolled products were sent to the domestic market, which is 9.6% less than last year. In the current year, Italian steelmakers reduced the shipment of products to the domestic market, the share of exports in the total volume of manufactured products for 7 months of 2023 was 57.5%, while in January-July 2022 it was 55%.

The specific weight of flat rolled products in export deliveries for 7 months increased to 50.4% against 47.4% a year earlier. The share of rolled products in export deliveries decreased to 49.6% from 52.6%.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Italy in January-July 2023 reduced steel production by 4.8% compared to the same period in 2022 – to 13.198 million tons. In July, the country’s steelmakers produced 1.75 million tons of steel, which is 9.2% more than in July 2022.