The EU’s imports of hot rolled coil (HRC) continued to decline in the first four months of the current year. According to the latest data released by the European Steel Association (EUROFER), HRC imports in April amounted to about 391,000 mt, down 14.3 percent compared to the previous month and decreasing by 58.9 percent compared to April 2019.
In April, the main sources were Turkey with around 131,000 mt (-56%), Russia with 126,000 mt (-10.6%), Serbia with 40,000 mt (-46.7%), Taiwan with 35,000 mt (+29.6%), India with 15,000 mt (-94%) and South Korea with 14,000 mt (-65.9%), with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
In the January-April period of this year, the EU imported 2.118 million mt of HRC, down 36.1 percent from the 3.314 million mt imported in the same period last year. In the first quarter, the year-on-year decrease was 26.9 percent.