German steel sales rise in March on small market recovery

• Steel product sales fall 5.24% on year
• Steel product stocks down 12.22% on year

German steel sales in March rose month on month, while steel prices increased as demand improved, data from the German steel stockholders’ association BDS showed April 24.

Total steel product sales in the German distribution and stockholding system in March fell 5.24% year on year, but rose 17.43% from February to 994,171 mt, BDS data showed.

Sales of flat products rose 5.44% year on year to 646,227 mt, while sales of long products fell 26.05% to 275,600. Sales of other products were down 6.92% at 72,344 mt.

On a month-on-month comparison, all products registered an increase, with flats product sales up 19.94%, longs sales 11.65% higher and other products rising 17.86%.

Stocks down

Stocks of all steel products in the German stockholding and distribution segment in March fell 12.22% year on year and 0.23% month on month to 1.98 million mt.

Flat stocks in March rose 17.10% year on year but eased 0.44% month on month to 1.18 million mt.

Longs stocks fell 3.47% year on year and 0.40% month on month to 751,994 mt, while stocks of other products dropped 20.51% year on year and 5.69% month on month to 41,117 mt.

Crude steel production higher

German crude steel production in March fell 2.7% year on year to 3.24 million mt. On a moth-on-month basis, however, production rose 8.02% as demand was reported higher, data from the German steel federation WV Stahl showed April 24.

German crude steel production from electric arc furnaces registered the heaviest year-on-year drop in March, falling 15.5% to 936,000 mt, as energy costs took their toll, but went up by 1.48% month on month, the WV Stahl data showed.

Production from basic oxygen furnaces rose 3.7% year on year and 11.98% month on month to 2.30 million mt.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe at Eur855/mt base ex-works at the end of March, up from Eur685/mt a month earlier.

Platts also assessed hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe stable on the day at Eur840/mt ($921.98/mt) ex-works Ruhr on April 21.

Platts assessed HRC NEU stable on the day at Eur840/mt ($921.98/mt) ex-works Ruhr.

Author Annalisa Villa, annalisa.villa@spglobal.com