BDS: German October steel sales rise 7.4% y-o-y
German steel product sales in October climbed 7.4% year over year to 838,042 mt, data from German steel stockholders’ association BDS showed Nov. 29.
Sales were also up and 6.7% month over month.
The majority, or 61.1%, of the sales were from the flat product category at 511,858 mt, rising 6.5% year over year and 10.7% month over month, while long sales rose 5.2% year over year and 1.8% month over month to 250,255 mt, the data showed.
January-October overall sales totaled 8.2 million mt, 0.6% higher year over year. Flat sales were down 2.5% at 5 million mt, and long sales were up 2.5% at 2.4 million mt.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic HRC prices in Northern Europe at Eur550/mt ex-works Ruhr Nov. 28, down 20% since the start of 2024.
Meanwhile, stocks of German steel products totaled 1.9 million mt in October, slipping 2.9% year over year, but up 0.6% month over month, the BDS data showed.
Flat products made up 65.8% of total inventories in October at 1.3 million mt, which was 1.6% lower year over year and down. 0.7% month over month.
Long products stocks totaled 621,608 mt in October, or 32.4% of the total inventory, dropping 4.9% year over year, but up 3.4% from September.
German steel product sales and stocks dip amid manufacturing slowdown
Steel product sales in the German distribution and stockholding system totaled 776,079 mt in July, down 0.7% from a year earlier, German steel stockholders’ association BDS reported Aug. 22
The July total was down 6.5% from the 829,612 mt sold in June, as the slowdown in German industrial production and weak demand weighed on the market.
Germany’s industrial output fell for a second consecutive month in June, with a drop of 1.5% on a monthly basis, worsening from the previous month’s dip of 0.1%.
Within the overall sales figures, monthly sales of long products totaled 244,917 mt, down 6.4% year on year and little changed from the prior month. Monthly sales of flat products were reported at 476,850 mt, up 3.9% on the year but down 9.1% on the month.
Weaker demand from stockists was also evident in the monthly steel inventories which fell 11.8% on the year to 2 million mt. Stocks of long products were reported at 684,005 mt, down 14.3% on the year and 2.1% lower on the month, while those of flat products were reported at 1.29 million mt, down 10.7% on the year but up 5.9% on the month.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic hot-rolled coil prices in Northern Europe at Eur635/mt ex-works Ruhr Aug. 21, down 35% since March 30.
Author: Euan Sadden
