Imports - Eurofer

Particularly problematic for European industry
has been the concentration of these imports
on certain products, namely flat products.
Imports of hot rolled coil at one point were
running at over 80% up on the previous
year and, at year-end, remained 26% higher
than in 1999. As the market for coil became
flooded and prices collapsed, importers moved
to other flat products: cold rolled sheet, where
imports rose by over 90%, and galvanised
sheet which experienced increases of over 55%.
These products in turn began to suffer price
pressure. 5 million tonnes of hot rolled coil were
imported in 2000 and over 2 million tonnes
each of cold rolled and galvanised sheet.
S t e e l M a r k e t
In contrast, for long products, the development of imports was less significant, growing only by 2%.
Total rebar imports fell back by 16% last year, while wire rod rose by 12% although volumes
reduced significantly in the second half of the year.
Exports
Exports showed their first increase since 1997,
rising by 14%. They remain, however, lower
than their pre-Asian crisis level. The continued
weakness of certain major economies, notably
Japan, the slow and patchy recovery of the
main Asian economies and the slowdown in
the US in the latter part of the year acted as
limiting factors on export developments.
ECSC Products Excluding Semis:
Imports (million tonnes)
20
15
10
5
0
9
11
16
14
17
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Source: Comext – Eurostat
ECSC Products Excluding Semis:
Exports (million tonnes)
25
20
15
10
5
0
21
19
16
15
17
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Source: Comext – Eurostat
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