According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2024-2025/Q1 2024 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), total EU imports of all steel products fell by 11.0 year on year in the first 11 months of 2023. In the given period, the EU’s imports of flat steel declined by nine percent, while imports of long steel were down by 25.0 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In the January-November period of 2023, India, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Turkey and Japan were the main countries of origin for finished steel imports into the EU. The first five countries accounted for 58 percent of total EU finished steel imports. India continued to be the largest import source of finished products for the EU, with share of 13.7 percent, followed by South Korea with 13.1 percent, China with 11.4 percent, Vietnam with 10.2 percent and Taiwan with 9.5 percent.
In the given period, imports of finished products from Turkey and China dropped by 51 percent and 13 percent, respectively, while imports from India, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea rose by seven percent, 32 percent, 38 percent, 12 percent and six percent, respectively, all year on year.
According to the EUROFER report, in the first 11 months long product imports accounted for 21 percent of total finished product imports.