Posted on 31 Oct 2025
In January-August 2025, the European Union (EU) reduced imports of rolled steel from third countries by 1.1% compared to the same period in 2024, to 20.24 million tons. This is evidenced by GMK Center calculations based on Eurostat data.
Imports of flat products during the period declined by 5.3% y-o-y – to 14.75 million tons, while the long products segment saw a 12% y-o-y increase to 5.49 million tons.
Among the most popular types of flat products on the European market is hot-rolled flat products (HS 7208), with 7.16 million tons of products imported (-9.9% y-o-y). A significant share of supplies also falls on coated flat products (HS 7210) – 4.28 million tons (-3% y-o-y), and cold-rolled flat products (HS 7209) – 1.54 million tons (-8.8% y-o-y).
In the long products segment, the key import items are: hot-rolled bars and rods in coils (HS 7213) – 1.564 million tons (-7.7% y/y), and other twisted carbon steel bars and rods (HS 7214) – 1.557 million tons (+15.8% y/y). At the same time, other bars and rods of other alloy steels (HS 7228) saw a significant increase in imports – by 93.9% y/y, to 744.31 thousand tons.
Turkey is the largest supplier of rolled metal products to the EU market, with 3.76 million tons in the first eight months of this year, up 26.7% y-o-y. Flat products accounted for 2.38 million tons of supplies (+32% y-o-y), and long products – 1.38 million tons (+18.5% y-o-y). South Korea exported 2.45 million tons of products (+14.2% y-o-y), including 2.34 million tons of flat products (+13.9% y-o-y) and 108,980 tons of long products (+19.4% y-o-y). China exported 2.16 million tons of rolled products (+24% y-o-y) to the EU. Long products accounted for the majority of supplies – 1.15 million tons (+55.5% y-o-y).
Other major suppliers are India (1.47 million tons; -47.7% y-o-y) and Ukraine (1.46 million tons; +15.1% y-o-y).
In August this year, the European Union imported 2 million tons of rolled steel, which is 7% more than in August 2024. Supplies of flat rolled products increased by 16.8% y/y – to 1.51 million tons, while long products fell by 15.1% y/y – to 486,230 tons.
As a reminder, at the end of 2024, the European Union increased imports of long rolled steel products from third countries by 3% compared to 2023, to 7.19 million tons. Flat rolled metal product deliveries increased by 7.5% y/y, to 21.68 million tons.
Source:GMK Center
