European hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports rose on the year in May, but fell from the preceding month when quarterly quotas had just reset.
Imports rose by 50pc on the year, and fell by 36pc on month, to 600,000t.
Turkey remained the largest supplier, shipping 230,000t. Turkish shipments rose by 140pc on the year and edged up by 5pc on the month, supported by its large country-specific quotas for HRC, which helped maintain strong export flows in May.
Sales from South Korea and Taiwan were limited, with Taiwan recording no shipments and South Korea supplying only about 3,000t, as both had exhausted their quotas in April. Indonesian shipments remained strong, as it is exempt from quotas. Volumes more than doubled on the year and tripled on the month to 116,500t. There has been talk of Indonesia coming into the scope of the safeguard, but mill sources suggest this is unlikely before next year as any review could see countries currently under the measure becoming exempt.
Cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dip galvanised (HDG) imports also declined in May, largely because of quota constraints. Combined volumes dropped by 26pc on the month to 127,500t. CRC shipments from Turkey fell sharply, down by 93pc on the year and month. India was the main CRC supplier with 31,000t, despite this being 25pc lower than in May last year. HDG imports saw a steeper drop, falling by 73pc on the month to 212,000t, underpinned by the absence of Vietnamese and Chinese suppliers.
A similar trend was seen in longs. Rebar imports dropped by 65pc on the month to 69,200t, as Egypt and Turkey were out of the market after exhausting their quotas early in the second quarter. Wire rod imports fell by 50pc on the month to 144,000t. The UK increased its shipments by 27pc compared with April to 43,000t, making it the largest wire rod supplier in May.
On the export side, EU HRC shipments declined by 11.5pc on the month to 196,804t, as sales to Turkey and the US weakened. The UK accounted for 92,400t of the total, marking a 62pc increase on the year. The Netherlands has been selling more into the UK since Tata Steel closed its Port Talbot blast furnaces, and continued to service some higher-spec grades from its sister plant in IJmuiden.
EU rebar exports dropped by 27pc on the year but rose by 32pc on the month to 51,000t, supported by 15,400t in sales to the US, which had recorded no imports from EU in April. Wire rod exports also declined on the year and fell by 7pc on the month, with weaker sales to key destinations including Switzerland, the UK and US.
| EU steel imports | t | ||
| May-25 | ±% May 24 | ±% Apr 25 | |
| HRC | 601,258 | 49.3% | -35.9% |
| CRC | 127,527 | -47.0% | -26.0% |
| HDG | 212,082 | -57.2% | -73.0% |
| Plate | 210,232 | 1.5% | 24.5% |
| Rebar | 69,266 | -45.7% | -64.5% |
| Wire rod | 143,877 | -5.6% | -50.5% |
| Slab | 650,733 | 7.3% | 47.3% |
| Billet | 179,713 | 38.3% | -10.0% |
| — GTT | |||
| EU steel exports | t | ||
| May-25 | ±% May 24 | ±% Apr 25 | |
| HRC | 196,804 | -7.2% | -11.5% |
| CRC | 82,126 | -39.0% | -11.4% |
| HDG | 251,449 | -10.6% | 9.3% |
| Plate | 128,946 | -25.2% | 4.7% |
| Rebar | 50,845 | -27.0% | 31.9% |
| Wire rod | 89,635 | -26.6% | -7.1% |
| Slab | 11,562 | -18.3% | -72.4% |
| Billet | 13,682 | -45.6% | -31.5% |
| — GTT | |||
