In the January-March period this year, Italy’s steel imports to non-EU countries declined, while exports increased, as per the data issued by the Italian steel producers association Federacciai.
In particular, Italy imported about 2.19 million metric tons from non-EU countries, down 28.7 percent from the same period in 2022. On the other hand, exports amounted to 860,000 metric tons, up 10.7 percent year-on-year.
In the import segment, long products recorded a 2.8 percent decrease compared to the January-March 2022 period: merchant bars imports were down 16.5 percent (to 66,000 metric tons), and wire rod was up 1.2 percent (to 87,000 metric tons). Flat products, on the other hand, were down 30.9% year-on-year: coils stood at 694,000 metric tons imported (down 16.4 percent), cold-rolled sheet at 152,000 metric tons (down 64.3 percent), hot-dip galvanized sheet at 128,000 metric tons (down 49.0 percent), and tinplate at 114,000 metric tons (up 34.1 percent).
In the export segment, however, increases of 24.1 percent were recorded for long products and 6.6 percent for flat products. In particular, increases were recorded for wire rod (66,000 metric tons, +20.0 percent), rebar (47,000 metric tons, +51.6 percent) and rail (23,000 metric tons, +283.3 percent). Among flat products, exports of the following were particularly growing: hot rolled sheets (71,000 metric tons, +16.4 percent), hot galvanized sheets (52,000 metric tons, +85.7 percent), cold rolled sheets (35,000 metric tons, +45.8 percent).
Considering 1st manufacturing products, these recorded a 20.2 percent increase in import and a 2.0 percent decrease in export. In contrast, second manufacturing products recorded a 31.0 percent decrease in imports and remained stable in exports.
The details are presented in the following table, with units of measurement in thousand metric tons.
|
Products |
Imports non-EU |
Exports non-EU |
Balance |
|||||
|
Jan-March 2022 |
Jan-March 2023 |
Y-o-y change (%) |
Jan-March 2022 |
Jan-March 2023 |
Y-o-y change (%) |
Jan-March 2022 |
Jan-March 2023 |
|
|
Ingots and semi-finished products |
885 |
573 |
-35.3 |
29 |
68 |
134.5 |
-856 |
-505 |
|
Long products |
176 |
171 |
-2.8 |
158 |
196 |
24.1 |
-18 |
25 |
|
Flat products |
1,853 |
1,280 |
-30.9 |
198 |
211 |
6.6 |
-1,655 |
-1,069 |
|
1st manufacturing products (*) |
114 |
137 |
20.2 |
357 |
350 |
-2 |
243 |
213 |
|
2nd manufacturing products (**) |
29 |
20 |
-31 |
35 |
35 |
0 |
6 |
15 |
|
Total |
3,057 |
2,181 |
-28.7 |
777 |
860 |
10.7 |
-2,280 |
-1,321 |
(*) Seamless pipes, welded pipes, forged bars, cold drawn sections, and bars, drawn wire, cold rolled strips, welded sections, drawn wire.
(**) Flanges, pipe fittings, mining sections, diamond plates, pig iron powder