Crude steel output at German mills this year has shown “an altogether massive negative trend”, says the country’s steel federation, WV Stahl.
From January through September, output was only marginally higher than 25 million tonnes, whereas it reached 28mt in the year-earlier period.
Production on the oxygen converter route saw a steeper decline than on the EAF route, at 13% on-year to 17.4mt. At EAF mills, it sank by 5% to 8mt. However, the less pronounced drop is mainly attributable to low EAF output figures in 2024, Kallanish hears from WV Stahl.
The difference appears to be flattening out somewhat, after September registered 3mt of overall crude steel output, down 1% on-year. The oxygen route actually gained 4% y-o-y to 2mt, while the EAF route slumped 10% to 891,000t.
Christian Koehl Germany
