In the first eight months of the current year, total EU exports of steel products to third countries decreased by two percent year on year. In the given period, semi-finished steel exports rose by 112 percent, whereas finished product exports dropped by seven percent, due to a one percent drop in flat product exports and a 15 percent fall in long product exports, all on year-on-year basis, according to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2017-2018/Q4 2017 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER).
As stated in the report by EUROFER, Algeria’s not providing a new import quota for rebar at the start of this year had a massive impact on EU exports. The newly issued rebar import licenses by Algeria’s ministry of commerce for the rest of the current year amount to around 400,000 mt. It is unclear as to what extent EU producers will be able to benefit.
The main countries of destination of EU exports over the first eight months of 2017 were North America, Turkey and Switzerland.