In January-February 2024, Germany increased its imports of rolled steel products from third countries by 1% compared to the same period in 2023, to 154.98 thousand tons. This is based on GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data.
Imports of flat products increased by 42.1% y/y over 2 months, while imports of long products decreased by 9.1% y/y – to 42.65 thousand tons and 112.33 thousand tons, respectively. Long products accounted for more than 72.5% of total steel imports to Germany in January-February 2024.
Rebar accounted for the bulk of imports – 34.36 thousand tons (-22% y/y), wire rod – 19.99 thousand tons (+83.5% y/y), and other rods and bars, angles, shapes and special profiles made of corrosion-resistant steel – 11.77 thousand tons (+10.3% y/y).
In February, imports of rolled steel products to Germany totaled 78.99 thousand tons, down 4.8% y/y. Supplies of long products increased by 1.7% y/y – to 69.03 thousand tons, while flat products fell by 34% y/y – to 9.97 thousand tons.
Steel exports from Germany for 2 months increased by 10.2% y/y – to 643.81 million tons. In particular, exports of long products increased by 10.5% y/y – to 258.97 thousand tons, and flat products – by 10% y/y, to 384.84 million tons.
The largest exports were of coated flat products – 123.82 thousand tons (+3.1% y/y), flat products of other alloy steels – 104.85 thousand tons (+32.1% y/y), and angles, shapes and special sections of non-alloy steel – 85.96 thousand tons (+43.3% y/y).
In February, Germany exported 319.82 thousand tons of rolled steel, up 6.6% compared to February 2022. Exports of long products increased by 7.4% y/y – to 134.34 thousand tons, and flat products by 6.1% y/y – to 185.48 thousand tons.
As GMK Center reported earlier, Germany is among the ten largest steel producers in the world according to World Steel. In 2023, the country decreased steel production by 3.9% year-on-year – to 35.4 million tons, ranking 8th in the global ranking of producing countries.
Imports of rolled steel products decreased by 31.9% last year compared to 2022, to 759.99 thousand tons. Steel exports decreased by 7.8% compared to 2022 – to 3.36 million tons.
