Author Euan Sadden, euan.sadden@spglobal.com
German monthly crude steel production was approximately 2.96 million mt in July, down 0.5% year on year and marking a second consecutive month of weakening production, the country’s steel association Wirtschaftsvereinigung, or WV Stahl, reported Aug. 21.
The July total was 1.1% lower than June owing to a slowdown in industrial production and subdued market demand.
Crude steel output produced in July using blast furnaces (BF) increased 6.1% year on year to 2.26 million mt, while output from electric arc furnaces (EAF) dropped 17% to 694,000 mt.
From January to July, crude steel production produced by EAF fell 11% on the year to 6.31 million mt, while production using BFs decreased 1.1% to 15.24 million mt.
Pig iron production saw an increase of 4.8% year on year to 2.08 million mt, with the year to end-July up 0.1% to 14.25 million mt.
Hot rolled coil production in the month of July fell 6.3% year on year to 2.54 million mt. From January to July coil output dropped 5.7% to 18.77 million mt.
In July demand for coil decreased due to subdued market demand and the presence of significant volumes of imported products awaiting custom clearance.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic hot-rolled coil prices in Northern Europe at Eur625/mt ex-works Ruhr Aug. 18, down 27% since March 30.
