Austria’s steelmakers decreased crude steel production in August compared to the previous month, according to worldsteel data.
Output amounted to 438,000 tonnes, down by 33% compared to July and 30.5% less on-year, Kallanish notes.
In January-August, the country produced 4.88 million tonnes of steel, down 6.7% on-year.
In 2022, Austria reduced steel production by 4.7% on-year to 7.51mt.
Overall EU output in August fell by 4.4% on-year to 9.1mt. In January-August, EU steelmakers produced 85.7mt, down 9.8% on-year.
Austria’s largest steelmaker voestalpine recently broke ground on the electric arc furnace project at its Donawitz site, part of the Austrian steelmaker’s “greentec steel” plan for low-emission steelmaking (see Kallanish passim). Danieli has been chosen to supply the engineering, production, and commissioning of the EAF, using DIGIMELTER Technology.
Construction of the 850,000 tonnes/year capacity EAF will begin in 2024, with commissioning scheduled three years later.
Earlier, voestalpine approved an investment of around €1.5 billion for the construction of one EAF at each of its two sites in Austria – Linz and Donawitz. These will ultimately replace two blast furnaces by 2027.
Voestalpine expects good earnings after a strong 2022/23 fiscal year (see Kallanish passim). It recorded the highest level of revenue and the best operating result in its history, surpassing even its record year of 2021/22. The firm said in June that expectations were more cautious because of the war in Ukraine, among other geopolitical tensions worldwide, and persistent inflation in both Europe and North America.
Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria
