At the SteelOrbis 2023 Spring Conference & 88th IREPAS Meeting held in Barcelona on May 7-9, Alfonso Hidalgo de Calcerrada, chief economist of the Spanish steel producers’ association UNESID, made a presentation about the current situation in the Spanish steel market and the market outlook.
Stating that the Spanish long steel market in 2022 was quite weak with long steel deliveries from local companies at 256,000 mt per month due to pandemic-related disruptions mainly seen in the construction industry, Alfonso Hidalgo de Calcerrada said he expects a small but initial recovery in long steel deliveries in the first quarter this year amounting to 275,000 mt per month. Mr. Hidalgo de Calcerrada added that the deliveries in 2022 were even lower than those recorded in 2020, which were at 272,000 mt per month.
Regarding long steel product imports into Spain, the chief economist of UNESID stated that 2023 started on a weaker note regarding imports with a monthly figure of 101,000 mt, in particular 71,000 mt from the EU and 30,000 mt from third countries. In the fourth quarter last year, the country’s long steel imports came to 116,000 mt monthly, while in the full year of 2022 Spain’s long steel product imports averaged at 109,000 mt per month. Mr. Hidalgo de Calcerrada noted that, normally, the EU quotas would have been exhausted in the initial months of the quota periods, namely January, April and July, and he pointed out that the pattern of imports from third countries changed in the first quarter this year, with third countries being in no rush to fill quotas due to unfavorable market conditions, particularly the lower demand in the EU. On the other hand, the UNESID official stated that there may be an increase in imports in Spain if demand starts to recover.
Meanwhile, similar to deliveries in Spain, the trend of apparent long steel consumption in the country has remained weak. In 2022, Spain’s long steel consumption came to 363,000 mt per month, while in the first quarter this year the monthly figure for long steel consumption is estimated at 375,000 mt, recovering slightly.
As regards the Spanish long steel market in the coming period, Hidalgo de Calcerrada stated that there is some small room for a cyclical market recovery despite the weak economic conditions, high inflation and economic uncertainty.