Spain’s steel production slipped 21% year over year in the first quarter of 2026 to 2.59 million metric tons, according to data published May 21 by industry association Unesid.
The volume was the lowest for the period on record since 2020, the data showed, with production curtailed by a blast furnace outage at the country’s largest production site in Gijon since the start of the year.
In March 2026, Spanish steel output reached 967,000 mt, down 19% year over year and marking an eighth consecutive monthly decrease, according to Unesid.
Trailing 12-month volume was down 9% year over year to 11.1 million mt, the smallest underlying volume since November 2023, the data showed.
Spain is Europe’s fourth-largest steel producer, behind Germany, Italy, and France, with a maximum capacity of around 23 million mt per year.
Spain’s scrap recycling volume was 2.25 million mt in the first quarter, according to Unesid data, a 13% year over year decline.
Scrap volume covered 87% of the Q1 production total, the highest Q1 share on record, the data showed.
However, total scrap volume declined 18% year over year in March to 800,000 mt, reversing a positive evolution since April 2024, the data showed.
