According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2017-2018/Q2 2017 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), total steel imports from third countries into the EU grew by around nine percent in 2016. Imports continued to rise over the second half of 2016 despite antidumping (AD) duties on several steel products. Customs data for the first two months of the current year confirm that imports remained on a rising trend compared with the same period of 2016, albeit at a more moderate pace than during 2016. In the first two months of this year, EU steel imports, including semi-finished products, showed a year-on-year increase of 1.2 percent.
EUROFER stated that, as far as the main countries of origin are concerned, China remained the most important exporter of steel products to the EU in the January-February period this year, although average total imports including semi-finished products from China over the same period declined by 19 percent year on year. China was followed by India, Turkey and South Korea, which replaced Russia and Ukraine whose exports were markedly lower in the given period.
According to EUROFER, currently available trade data appear to confirm its fears that import pressure will remain high in the current year and that the gap left by the countries which were fined with antidumping duties by the European Commission has been rapidly filled by other countries.