Austria increased crude steel production in May compared to the previous month, according to worldsteel data.
Output amounted to 690,137 tonnes, up 11.6% on-month and 1.3% year-on-year, Kallanish notes.
In January-May, the country produced 3.06 million tonnes of steel, compared to 3.2mt in the same period last year.
Austria remained in 23rd place in the ranking of top global steel producers, data show.
Overall EU output in May was down 3.1% on-year at 11.36mt. January-May production was almost 55mt compared to 56.3mt in the same period last year.
Austrian steelmaker voestalpine will supply steel to Chinese electric vehicle producer BYD for its new car factory in Hungary (see Kallanish passim). The company was chosen by BYD because of its geographical proximity to the Hungary plant, and the high quality and excellent reputation of Austrian steel, the Chinese company said.
Earlier, voestalpine expressed mixed feelings about US steel tariffs, as the firm operates multiple sites in the US, which it plans to expand, while actual Austria-origin imports into the US are limited. The steelmaker recently commissioned the profile rolling line at its hot tube rolling mill at Kindberg in Styria.
Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria
