EU lags behind global growth in steel production

The EU-28 countries lagged behind the global growth in steel production during August 2018. While global production recorded 2.6% year-on-year growth, European production rose only 1.4%. However, Germany, Spain and Italy recorded significantly more growth, being the top three steel-producing countries in the region. The combined production in these countries accounted for almost 50% of the total monthly average production in the region.

Production in Germany was 3,900 million tonnes, up 7.5% from the previous year. Spain also recorded a significant increase of 6.6% to 1.205 million tons. The steel industry in Italy recorded a 6.0% jump in a year to 1.162 million.

In August this year, EU-28 steel production was 12.593 million tonnes, up from 12.424 million tonnes in the same month a year earlier. At the same time, cumulative production in the first eight months of the year increased slightly from 112.405 million tonnes in January-August 2017 to 114.215 million tonnes.

The top five producers in January-August 18 included Germany (30.255 thousand tons), Italy (16.137 million tons), France (10.414 million tons), Spain (9.555 million tons) and Poland (6.884 million tons). Greece recorded the largest jump in production over the previous year, while Austrian output fell the most.