Austria reduced steel production by 33% m/m in August

In January-August, the country's steelmakers reduced steel production by 6.7% y/y

In August 2023, steel enterprises in Austria reduced steel production by 33% compared to the previous month – to 438 thousand tons. This is evidenced by WorldSteel Association’s data.

Compared to August 2022, in August 2023, Austrian steelmakers reduced steel production by 30.5%.

In January-August, Austria produced 4.88 million tons of steel, which is 6.7% less than the same period in 2022.

Average monthly steel production in Austria in January-August amounted to 609.6 thousand tons, while for the same period in 2022 the figure was 653.4 thousand tons (-6.7% y/y).

The sharp decline in steel production in August is likely a consequence of seasonal factors, since steel consumption usually drops to a minimum in August as most companies go on vacation. In addition, the EU steel market is going through a difficult period due to rising production costs and increasing cheap imports. This forces steel companies to shut down or reduce capacity for maintenance so that supply and demand are balanced.

There are 5 steel plants in Austria, in particular, two blast furnace plants (BF&BOF) – Donawitz (annual capacity – 1.37 million tons of steel), and Linz (4.34 million tons per year), and three electric arc plants (EAF) – Graz (365 thousand tons/year), Kapfenberg (180 thousand tons/year), Mitterdorf (300 thousand tons/year).

In 2022, steelmakers in Austria reduced steel production by 4.7% compared to 2021 – to 7.51 million tons. In December 2022, 560 thousand tons of steel were produced, which is 13.8% less year-on-year. and 0.5% more m/m.

In general, steel production in the European Union countries in August 2023 fell by 4.4% compared to August last year – to 9.1 million tons. In January-August 2023, 85.7 million tons of steel were produced in the EU, which is an increase 9.8% less y/y

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022 European steelmakers reduced steel production by 10.5% compared to 2021 – to 136.7 million tons. Overall, global steel output fell 4.3% year-on-year last year – to 1.831 billion tons.