According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2024-2025/Q4 2024 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), total steel imports into the EU, including semis, decreased by 2.0 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2024. During the same period, the EU’s imports of flat steel dropped by 7.0 percent year on year, while imports of long steel rose by 4.0 percent and imports of finished steel products moved down by 5.0 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In the first seven months, India, Turkey, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Ukraine and Japan were the main countries of origin for finished steel imports into the EU. The first five countries accounted for 57 percent of total EU finished steel imports in the first four months. India maintained its role as leading exporting country to the EU, with a share of 15.0 percent, followed by Turkey with 14.0 percent, South Korea with 11.0 percent, Vietnam with 9.4 percent, Taiwan with 9.0 percent and China with 7.0 percent.
In the January-July period this year, imports of finished products from Turkey rose sharply by 99.0 percent, while imports from India and Vietnam went up by 27.0 percent and 20.0 percent respectively. Shipments from China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, on the other hand, decreased by 23.0 percent, 20.0 percent, 7.0 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.
According to the EUROFER report, in the given period long product imports showed stability compared to the same period last year and accounted for 20.0 percent of total finished product imports, while flat product and finished product imports increased by 9.0 percent and 7.0 percent year on year, respectively.