Total EU exports of steel products to third countries decreased by 11 percent in 2016. In the given year, semi-finished steel exports decreased by 62 percent, whereas finished product exports slipped by five percent, due to a seven percent drop in flat product exports and a two percent fall in long product exports, according to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2017-2018/Q2 2017 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER).
EUROFER stated that in January-February period this year total monthly exports were at the lowest level since the second quarter of 2002.
As stated in the report by EUROFER, in the first two months of this year total finished product exports were 14 percent lower than the same period of 2016; this reflects a nine percent drop in flat product exports and a 23 percent fall in long product exports. In the given period, owing to a rise in the exports of semi-finished steel by 98 percent year on year, the drop in the exports of total steel products was 10 percent.
The report highlighted that in the January-February period this year there was a massive reduction in the average trade surplus for long products per month which totaled 77,000 mt, compared to the average of 335,000 mt per month in 2016. This is largely the result of the fact that the government of Algeria did not release import licenses for rebar at the start of 2017.
According to EUROFER, initial data for 2017 signal that competition in the international markets for steel products remains high. The very modest recovery of global steel demand expected for 2017 is not going to ease these pressures significantly, EUROFER concluded.