Europe HRC import volumes continue to move down

Hot rolled coil import volumes in Europe fell significantly during 2022, as a result of the sanctions on Russia, limited availability from Ukraine and the overall weakness of EU downstream demand, Kallanish notes.

According to official data, during January-November 2022, EU HRC imports fell some 25% year-on-year. The reduction was mainly noticed during the second half of the year. In 2021, imports of HRC reached almost 10 million tonnes, while in 2022 these remained well below 8mt.

The trend of lower HRC imports is continuing during the first weeks of 2023. According to data compiled by UK Steel, only 7% of EU safeguard quotas for HRC have been used during the first 11 days of January. South Korea used 28% of its allocated quotas, while India has not yet used any of the available allocation.

Other coil product imports suffered in 2022. Cold rolled coil intake was down almost 17% in January-November, while hot-dip galvanized coil was down 25% for non-automotive applications and 12% for automotive.

Organic coated sheet imports, on the other hand, jumped almost 18% y-o-y in the 11 months.

Emanuele Norsa Italy