EU's October steel import applications surge to near July's peak

EU's October steel import applications surge to near July's peak.

Applications to import steel products into the EU-27 surged in October to total 2 million mt, up from 1.66 million mt in September and 32% higher than a year earlier, according to internal European Commission data seen by Platts.
Ukraine filed the largest volume of applications last month, at 287,000 mt, coming in slightly off September's total of 295,000 mt. Turkey followed with 223,000 mt, up from 196,000 mt in the previous month, and China next with 219,00 mt, down from 275,000 mt in September. Switzerland saw 202,000 mt in applications. Russia saw 165,000 mt in total applications last month, up from 157,000 mt in the previous month. South Korea had 158,000 mt in applications, up from 82,000 mt in September. India had 118,000 mt last month, up from 105,000 mt in September.

October's application totals for ex-EU steel marks a sharp recovery back towards July's 2.14 million mt peak in total applications, which was the highest monthly figure since October 2008. The growth comes as the Eurofer steel body representing EU producers warned earlier this month that imports, particularly from China, are threatening output recovery of its member companies and pricing on its home turf.

Reported by product category, non-alloy HRC saw total applications at 493,000 mt, up from 410,000 mt a month earlier. Ukraine (106,000 mt), Turkey (87,000 mt), Egypt (67,000 mt), India (47,000 mt), Serbia (43,000 mt) and China (21,000 mt) vied as the biggest sources of HRC applications in October.

Cold-rolled sheet import applications stood at 123,000 mt, down from 131,000 mt in September. Russia was the source of 31,000 mt, down 9,000 mt on September, Ukraine, 21,000 mt, up from 15,000 mt in September, and China 20,000 mt, down 1,000 mt.

Quarto plate (or reversing mill plate) applications totaled 109,000 mt in October, of which 38,000 mt came from Ukraine and 30,000 mt from Macedonia.

Among long products, applications for reinforcing bar jumped to 56,000 mt, up from 26,000 mt in September. Norway submitted the greatest volume of applications at 29,000 mt, followed by Belarus at 12,000 mt.