In 2019, steel imports into the EU-28 amounted to 25.36 million mt, recording a drop of 13.4 percent according to the data provided by EUROFER, the association of European steel producers. The figure is the lowest since 2015, when the EU imported 23.70 million mt of steel. Nonetheless, EUROFER continues to believe that the European steel industry remains strongly influenced by the "growing import distortions as well as persistently high import volatility as a result of the increase in the safeguard quotas and the transfer mechanism of unused quarterly quota".
Imports of hot rolled coils decreased, from a monthly average of 696,000 mt in 2018 to an average of 634,000 mt in 2019. As for cold rolled coils, the average monthly figure fell from 288,000 mt to 265,000 mt. The same happened to long products, with rebar imports going from 202,000 mt to 170,000 mt per month and wire rod falling from 205,000 mt to 145,000 mt per month. The reductions were determined in part by the definitive safeguard measures introduced in February last year, in part by the weakening of demand in the EU. As reported by EUROFER, apparent steel consumption in the EU fell by 3.3 percent in 2019, while it could grow by 1.2 percent in 2020 and 2.3 percent in 2021, thanks to an improvement in real demand and a normalization of the stocks cycle.
Meanwhile, steel exports from the EU remained almost stable in 2019 compared to 2018, at 20.495 million mt, compared to the 20.546 million mt recorded in the previous year. However, they are still far from the levels of a few years ago: in 2012 they amounted to 27.666 million mt (when imports totaled 13.781 million mt). Taking into consideration specific products, average monthly exports in 2019 of hot rolled coil came to 310,000 mt, against an average of 243,000 mt in the previous year. As for cold rolled coils, the average monthly figure dropped from 168,000 mt to 159,000 mt. In the case of rebar, average monthly exports remained virtually stable at 173,000 mt. There was a decrease for wire rod, going from 133,000 mt to 113,000 mt per month on average.