The tubular industry in Spain and Portugal continued to recover year-on-year in 2018. The region saw its tube production increase for the fourth time in a row, according to the data from local steelmakers’ association, Unesid, monitored by Kallanish.
Spain and Portugal produced 992,036 tonnes of tubes, or 5.5% more y-o-y. The Iberian output represented 11% of the overall 9,048,639t tubes produced in the European Union during last year, according to Unesid data. In 2018, the region also saw apparent tube consumption grow by 9.9% y-o-y to 831,198t.
Imports of tubes into the Iberian region reached 234,450t in 2018, a 1.6% increase over 2017. Italy was the largest tube supplier, representing 67% of total shipments. Turkey and Germany had 13% and 6% import share respectively.
Spanish and Portuguese tube exports reached 395,288t last year, and were -4.7% lower compared to 414,903t during 2017. The main destination for Iberian tube exports was France, which took 39% of shipments. Germany and the Netherlands were the next-biggest importers, with shares of 13% and 11% respectively.