The EU exported steel products worth €77.8 billion in 2024

In 2024, the European Union exported €77.8 billion worth of iron, steel and related products, while imports amounted to €73.1 billion, which corresponds to a trade surplus of €4.7 billion. This was reported by Eurostat.

Compared to 2019, trade in the respective products increased significantly – exports increased by 15.2% (+ €10.3 billion) and imports by 23.7% (+ €14.0 billion). This growth occurred despite a decrease in physical exports by 17.3% and imports by 1.6%, which indicates an increase in prices.

In 2024, Turkey became one of the EU’s key trading partners in terms of both exports and imports of iron and steel: it ranked first among the countries importing these products from the EU (€6.2 billion) and third among exporters to the EU (€3.5 billion).

The second largest partner country for exports to the EU was the United States (€5.4 billion), followed by the United Kingdom (€4.0 billion), Switzerland (€2.1 billion), and Mexico (€1.7 billion).

On the import side, the top supplier of iron and steel to the EU in 2024 was India (€3.9 billion), followed by South Korea (€3.6 billion), China (€3.5 billion), and the United Kingdom (€3.2 billion).

Between 2019 and 2024, EU exports of iron and steel to Mexico increased by 54.1%, and to the United States by 51.1%. At the same time, imports of these products from India increased by 89.2% and from South Korea by 43.0%.

The United States became the key export destination for iron and steel products in 2024, purchasing €8.0 billion worth of products, up 45.1% from 2019. This was followed by the UK (€6.3 billion), Switzerland (€3.5 billion), Norway (€2.9 billion) and China (€2.8 billion).

Among import partners, China was the leader, supplying €12.5 billion worth of products to the EU, accounting for 37.3% of total imports in this category. It was followed by Turkey (€4.6 billion), the United Kingdom (€2.9 billion), the United States (€2.0 billion), and India (€1.7 billion).

Since 2019, imports of iron and steel products from Turkey, India and China have increased significantly: by 82.4%, 40.5% and 37.0%, respectively.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2024, the EU increased imports of flat steel products by 7.5% compared to 2023, to 21.68 million tons. Imports increased for the first time after two years of stagnation. Hot-rolled flat products (HS – 7208) traditionally account for the largest import volumes – 10.81 million tons, up 4.3% yoy.