German crude output remains below pre-crisis level

From January to June, Germany’s mills produced 20.62 million tonnes of crude steel,  18% more than in the first half of 2019, when the industry was under shock from the first coronavirus wave.

The gap shows clearly in the months of the second quarter, with June (3,42m tonnes) up 38% year-on-year, and May even 43% higher y-on-y, Kallanish learns from national steel association WV Stahl.

When looking at the sequence of the recent months, June stays slightly behind May with then 3.66m tonnes, which might be attributable to the start of the summer slowdown. Production of pig iron dropped somewhat more pronounced, from 2.54m tonnes in May to 2.10m tonnes in June.

The association points out that the output remains below the first half of the “normal“ year 2018, but does not say by how much, or cites other factors that could play a role. However, WV Stahl does strike an optimistic note as it states that steel users worldwide are ramping up their production, and that demand gets an additional boost from infrastructural investment schemes.

Christian Koehl Germany