The EU, which exported 11.53 million tons of flat products in 2022, exported 10.64 million flat products in 2023, down 7.7%, according to SteelRadar data.
It was observed that there has been a noticeable decrease in steel production in the European Union countries over the years due to rising production costs and that flat product exports in the EU have also been affected as buyers refrain from restocking. In 2023, the main consumers of flat products are the United States (1.59 million tons per year), the United Kingdom (1.56 million tons per year) and Switzerland (774.1 million tons per year), but there is a corresponding decrease in the tonnage of products imported from the EU by the main consumers compared to 2022.
For example, the US imported 1.59 million tons of flat products from the EU in 2023, down 9.8% compared to last year, while Switzerland imported 1.56 million tons of flat products, up 0.2% compared to 2022.
It is widely reported that competition in the steel market has become tougher in recent years, with EU producers struggling to compete with other distributors due to rising production costs, and that the EU will impose trade barriers on imports. In contrary to these unfavorable conditions in the EU steel market, it has been revealed that steel shipments from Europe to Ukraine have increased significantly by 57.3% compared to 2022. It is estimated that the EU, which supplies the most flat products to Ukraine, which is facing problems in steel production due to the impact of the war, will continue to increase its imports this year.
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