German steel production fell 27% in May

German steel production fell 27 percent to 2.6 million tons in May from the same month last year, the German Steel Federation (WV Stahl) said Wednesday.

In April, crude steel production in Germany had already dropped by 24 percent, and WV Stahl warned that “steel demand could fall to an even lower level than during the 2009 financial crisis”.

WV Stahl said the COVID-19 crisis "will hit the industry at a time when it is already weakened by the economic downturn" in important consumer industries.

Germany's largest steelmaker ThyssenKrupp announced in May that the first half of this fiscal year was "significantly impacted by the initial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic."

ThyssenKrupp's steel business in Europe was characterized by an “extremely difficult structural situation in the steel sector”. The general market slowdown was also reflected in lower price levels, the company said.

The total volume of the German steel market fell 12 percent last year. Steel production declined for the second year in a row and for the first time since 2009 fell below 40 million tonnes by 39.7 million tonnes.