Austria’s December steel production falls, stable in 2024

Austria’s steelmakers decreased crude steel production in December, according to worldsteel data. Output amounted to 559,000 tonnes, down 5.9% down year-on-year, Kallanish notes.

In 2024, the country produced 7.13 million tonnes of steel, flat compared to 2023. Austria remained in 23rd place in the ranking of top global steel producers, the data show. Overall EU output in December was 7.2% more on-year at 9.6mt.

In 2024, steel production was 2.6% higher on-year at 129.5mt.

Austrian steelmaker voestalpine has successfully commissioned the profile rolling mill engineered by Friedrich KOCKS (see separate story). Following the completion of all work and successful commissioning, the new equipment is now fully integrated into the hot tube rolling mill at the Kindberg site in Styria.

Voestalpine recently said it performed well in the first half of its business year through March 2025 despite the difficult economic environment in Europe. Demand remained strong from the railway infrastructure and aerospace sectors, and for high-bay warehousing systems made from advanced steel profiles.

The group’s revenue in H1 reached €8 billion ($8.32 billion), which is 5.5% or around €500 million below the comparative period in the first half of 2023/24. Ebitda decreased by 20.5% y-o-y to €718m and was influenced by negative one-off effects including the sale of its Buderus Edelstahl subsidiary and closure of automotive operations in Germany.

The decline in volumes was partly offset by a better product mix with higher profits, while lower sales prices were partly compensated by reduced raw materials values.

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria

kallanish.com