Spain’s crude steel production slows in August

Spanish steel sector activity has slowed after a strong recovery in the first half of this year. Production fell sequentially for the second consecutive month in August, amid the summer holiday season, reaching its second-lowest volume so far this year, Kallanish notes.

According to Spanish steelmakers’ association Unesid, the local steel industry produced around 1.05 million tonnes of crude steel that month. This was 3.6% down over July’s output of 1.09mt but 48% higher on-year, and also 2% more when compared to the pre-Covid-19 August 2019.

Crude steel production in August was just 20,000t above the 2021-low in January. During the first eight months of the year, Spanish monthly output ranged from 1.05mt to 1.35mt, data show.

Year-to-date through August, the country’s crude steel production reached 9.57mt. Unesid did not disclose an on-year comparison in its latest report, but taking worldsteel figures into account, the growth is estimated at 43.8%.

Spain used 857,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap for steelmaking in August, up 4.6% month-on-month. This volume was also up 36% and 19% over the same month in 2020 and 2019, respectively. Cumulative scrap usage was 7.56mt, representing 79% of total crude steel production in the eight-month period.

Todor Kirkov Bulgaria