Polish hot rolled flat product imports surged 37% on-year in October 2018 to 297,953 tonnes, according to data from Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) monitored by Kallanish. Their average value was PLN 2,508.5/tonne ($668) versus PLN 2,310.3/t in October 2017.

Imports of HR plate above 10mm thick grew 48% to 71,693,897t. Within this, HS code 72085120 comprised 53,098t, of which Ukraine supplied 22,620t, up 154%, and Czech Republic 9,394t, up 54%.

HR unpickled wide strip below 3mm thick imports, meanwhile, surged 47% in October to 66,368t. The main supplier by far was Russia which increased shipments to Poland by almost four-fold to 40,930t.

Intake of HR unpickled wide strip of 3-4.75mm thickness rose 20% in October to 43,589t. Russia and Slovakia supplied 13,515t and 11,963t respectively, up almost five-fold in the case of Russia but down -26% in Slovakia’s case.

Polish HR flats imports in the ten months through October thus grew 15% on-year to 2.4 million tonnes, with HR plate above 10mm comprising 527,176t.