According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2019-2020/Q3 2019 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), total steel imports including semi-finished products from third countries into the EU in the first five months of 2019 decreased by almost five percent year on year. According to the surveillance data for June, finished product imports fell by 15 percent over the first half of the year, due to a seven percent year-on-year drop in flat product imports and a 36 percent fall in long product imports.
EUROFER said that the average monthly import volume of finished products over the first half of the current year amounted to 2.17 million mt. In comparison with the average level of monthly imports over the second half of last year, total finished product imports were seven percent lower, while semi-finished product imports rose by 27 percent.
Over the first half of 2019, the main countries of origin for finished steel imports into the EU market were Turkey, Russia, South Korea, India and China. These five countries represented 65 percent of total finished steel imports into the EU. Particularly, Turkey remained the largest exporter of finished steel products to the EU, capturing 26 percent of total EU finished steel imports over the first half of 2019.