European stainless steel manufacturers are known for their demands for ever stricter and more questionable market protection measures for stainless steel products from non-EU countries. However, the fact that they themselves are among the largest importers of stainless steel should be clear from some figures from the statistics authority

In 2024, imports of ferro-nickel (+42%), stainless steel scrap (+50%) and stainless steel slabs (+27%) increased dramatically compared to 2023. In the case of nickel pig iron, imports increased by almost 60,000% (sixty thousand) compared to 2023.