European hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports surged by 76pc in July from June to more than 1mn t, according to data from Global Trade Tracker.
The sharp increase was driven by the quota reset on 1 July, prompting importers to rush material to EU ports to avoid the 25pc safeguard duty once quotas are exhausted.
Turkey remained the largest HRC supplier to the EU in July, having shipped 250,000t, supported by its separate quota allocation. Taiwan exceeded its 112,717t portion of the other countries’ quota, selling 157,412t, while South Korea, which has its own quota, also surpassed its 163,078t allocation with 182,932t shipped. Indonesia, which is currently exempt from the HRC safeguard, also sold more than 150,000t to the EU.
Cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dip galvanised (HDG) imports also rose sharply in July, similarly driven by the quota reset. Turkey led CRC shipments with 58,000t out of a total 276,600t, while Vietnam was the top HDG supplier at 185,500t of the 822,530t total. Despite this, Vietnamese HDG volumes were down by 17pc on the year.
A similar surge was seen in long products, particularly rebar, as country-specific caps limited allocations for importers. EU rebar imports rose fivefold on the month in July to 306,277t, with volumes mainly from Turkey, Algeria and Egypt.
Despite the import surge, exports declined in July. HRC exports fell by nearly 30pc on the year in July to 168,000t, largely because of lower demand from the UK and US. Rebar exports dropped by 56pc on the year but rose by 67pc on the month to 56,200t, supported by resumed sales to the US after a pause in June.
By Elif Eyuboglu
Source: argusmedia.com
