EU steel imports to rise in 2015 and decline in 2016

According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2015-2016/Q2 2015 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), in the fourth quarter of 2014 EU steel imports saw a rising trend despite a mild reduction in actual volumes compared with the preceding quarter and a more moderate year-on-year growth rate.
 
First customs data for 2015 signal that imports in the first two months of this year remained at an elevated level. While imports in January were lower than in the same month of 2014, February imports again showed an increase. Total finished product imports over the first two months of 2015 increased five percent year on year.
 
EUROFER stated that especially imports from China and South Korea were on a rising trend in the first two months of this year. Finished product imports from China rose 38 percent compared with the monthly average of 2014, whereas imports from South Korea grew by 18 percent. According to EUROFER, these data clearly fuel concerns about imports remaining at an elevated level as long as excess production - mainly originating in China - is being pushed into the international markets at cut-rate prices, thereby distorting traditional steel trade flows.
 
EUROFER expects EU steel imports to rise by almost four percent in 2015 and decline by nearly three percent in 2016.