In the first ten months of 2024, Poland significantly increased its imports of rolled steel products from non-EU (third) countries by 26.3% year-on-year (y/y), reaching a total of 1.869 million tons. The majority of these imports consisted of flat rolled products, which amounted to 1.42 million tons, accounting for over 75% of total steel imports during this period.

Breakdown of Imports:
Flat Rolled Products: Imports surged by 33.5% y/y to 1.42 million tons.
Hot-rolled flat products: 786.53 thousand tons (+29.3% y/y).
Coated flat products: 393.54 thousand tons (+59.9% y/y).
Cold-rolled flat products: 169.18 thousand tons (+26.3% y/y).
Long Products: Imports rose by 8.6% y/y to 472.39 thousand tons.

October 2024 Figures:
In October alone, Poland imported 232.89 thousand tons of rolled steel products, marking a 35.2% y/y increase. Flat rolled product imports grew by 38.3% y/y to 182.79 thousand tons, while long product imports increased by 25% y/y to 50.1 thousand tons.

Export Trends:
Conversely, Poland’s steel exports to non-EU countries declined during this period:

In October 2024, exports dropped by 6.8% y/y to 22.99 thousand tons.
Long product exports fell by 9.7% y/y to 10.21 thousand tons.
Flat product exports decreased by 4.3% y/y to 12.78 thousand tons.
Angles, shaped sections, and special profiles constituted the largest share of exports in October, totaling 5.32 thousand tons (+13.2% y/y).
For January-October 2024, total rolled steel exports declined by 5.6% y/y to 246.07 thousand tons:

Long product exports dropped slightly by 0.6% y/y to 133.62 thousand tons.
Flat product exports saw a more significant decline of 11% y/y to 112.45 thousand tons.

Historical Context:
In 2023, Poland imported 1.77 million tons of rolled steel products from third countries, a 14% decline compared to 2022. However, steel exports that year grew by 15.2% y/y to 318.8 thousand tons. Polish steel production also fell by 13.1% in 2023, reaching 6.44 million tons, with an average monthly output of 536.42 thousand tons, compared to 617.25 thousand tons in 2022 (-13.09% y/y).