Austria reduced steel production by 5% y/y in 2023

Austrian steelmakers reduced steel production by 5% in 2023 compared to 2022, to 7.13 million tons. This is evidenced by data from the World Steel Association.

In December, Austrian steelmakers increased steel production by 6.1% compared to December 2022 and by 8% compared to November 2023, to 605 thousand tons. The December figure is the highest since July, when 654 thousand tons of steel were produced.

The average monthly steel production in Austria in 2023 amounted to 594.4 thousand tons, while in 2022 the figure was 626 thousand tons (-5.04% y/y).

Austria has 5 steel mills, including two blast furnace (BF & BOF) mills in Donawitz (annual capacity of 1.37 million tons of steel) and Linz (4.34 million tons per year), and three electric arc furnaces (EAF) in Graz (365 thousand tons per year), Kapfenberg (180 thousand tons per year), and Metterdorf (300 thousand tons per year).

In 2022, Austrian steelmakers reduced steel production by 4.7% compared to 2021, to 7.51 million tons. In December 2022, 560 thousand tons of steel were produced, down 13.8% y/y and 0.5% m/m.

In general, steel production in the EU countries in December 2023 increased by 2.7% compared to December 2022 – to 9.1 million tons. In 2023, the EU produced 126.3 million tons of steel, down 7.4% 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 production fell by 4.3% y/y last year – to 1.831 billion tons.