According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2020-2021/Q3 2020 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), total EU exports of steel products to third countries decreased by nine percent year on year in the first quarter this year. Over the first four months of the year, total steel exports fell by 13 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, as a result of a decrease of 15 percent in exports of flat products and a drop of 13 percent in the exports of long products. Over the same period, exports of finished steel products dropped by 15 percent.
EUROFER said that Turkey, Switzerland and the US were the largest export destinations for EU steel exports in 2019, followed by China and Egypt, with some changes compared to the pattern in key export destinations seen earlier during the given year. These five countries together accounted for 42 percent of total EU finished product exports in the first four months this year. The major destination countries for EU finished steel exports in this period remained the US, Switzerland and Algeria.
In the first four months this year, exports of finished products to Egypt rose by seven percent and exports to China increased by three percent, while exports to the US recorded a sharp decrease of 43 percent. Exports to Switzerland and Turkey also both dropped by 10 percent. Meanwhile, exports to Russia increased only by one percent.
According to the EUROFER report, flat product exports accounted for 66 percent of finished product exports and long product exports accounted for the remaining 34 percent in the first four months this year.
EUROFER noted that, once normal business conditions are restored after the end of the coronavirus pandemic and steel demand picks up again, the combination of still-volatile monthly steel imports and the increased capacity of major exporting third countries will continue to pose a serious risk for EU steel producers. The safeguard measures alone will not be enough to counter this risk, EUROFER warned.