The EU’s steel trade deficit – for finished plus semi-finished steel – narrowed somewhat during the first four months of this year, mainly due to the fall in imports being steeper than the decline in exports, Kallanish understands from the latest data issued by Eurofer.
During the first four months of the year, Europe’s trade deficit reached 1.3 million tonnes/month on average. In full-year 2022, the trade deficit stood at 1.6m t/month and in 2021 at 1.5m t/month.
Asian countries such as South Korea, China, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan and India were the ones with which Europe recorded the highest trade deficit.
A trade surplus, on the other hand, was recorded with the US, Switzerland, the UK and Turkey.
Last year, EU steel imports reached a new peak at 30mt, but this year the trend is rapidly turning, with year-to-date imports dropping almost 20% y-o-y. Exports, on the other hand, have been declining since 2012 and the trend is continuing this year.
Emanuele Norsa Italy
