German Sept steel sales down 3.5% on year: BDS

German steel product sales in September fell 3.5% year on year to 855,795 mt, data from German steel stockholders’ association BDS showed Oct. 20.

The sales volume for the month, however, rose 2.3% from August to a four-month high, the data showed.

Some 60.9%, of sales were from the flat product category at 521,047 mt, down 1.4% year on year, but up 4.2% on the month to a six-month high.

Sales of long products in September made up 32.7% of the overall total at 279,633 mt, rising 4% year on year and up 0.65 from August.

Total nine-month sales were 7.8 million mt, down 5.5% year on year, of which 4.6 million mt was flats, down 5.6%, and 2.5 million mt was longs, down 0.5%.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic HRC prices in Northern Europe at Eur730/mt ($713/mt) ex-works Ruhr Sept. 30, down 3.95% from the start of the month.

Meanwhile, stocks of German steel products totaled 2.15 million mt in September, slipping 0.5% year on year and down 3.3% from August to the lowest monthly level since December 2021, the BDS data showed.

Flat products made up 63.2% total inventories in September at 1.4 million mt, which was 5% higher on the year, but down 2.9% on the month to a nine-month low.

Long products stocks totaled 749,675 mt in September, or 34.9% of the total inventory, dropping 6.8% year on year and down 4.2% from August to an eight-month low.

— Jacqueline Holman