EU Steel Imports Not Yet Damaging Prices

摘要

The latest increase in flat rolled steel prices in Western Europe has pushed third quarter values up to unprecedented heights. Under normal circumstances we would expect to see this resulting in a substantial rise in the inflow of imports. Figures for the first quarter of this year show there was, in fact, a sharp decline. Excluding semi-finished products, imports were 4.1 million tonnes in January/March 2004, a drop of almost 10 percent from the same period last year. The 'was sharpest in flat rolled products where period one imports of 2.63 million tonnes were down by more than 13 percent.