Belgium reduced steel production by 43.2% m/m in November

In November 2023, Belgian steelmakers reduced steel production by 43.2% compared to the previous month – to 249 thousand tons. Year-on-year, steel production in the country decreased by 54.1%. This is evidenced by data World Steel Association.

In January-November 2023, steel production in Belgium amounted to 5.47 million tons, which is 15% less than the same period in 2022.

The average monthly steel production in Belgium in January-November amounted to 497.45 thousand tons, while for the same period in 2022 the figure was 585.27 thousand tons (-15.01% y/y).

According to the GMK Center article, in mid-September, ArcelorMittal announced the shutdown of blast furnace A at Ghent, Belgium, plant for several months to replace the refractory lining. BF A was scheduled to be blown out on September 14 and restarted at the end of November 2023. This likely affected the country’s steel production in September and October. In addition, the negative situation on the EU steel market also affects production figures.

Belgium has 5 steel mills, including one blast furnace (BF&BOF) in Ghent (annual capacity of 4.34 million tons of steel) and four electric arc mills – two in Charleroi (850 thousand tons and 350 thousand tons), one in Chatelet (1 million tons) and Genk (1.2 million tons). These are enterprises of Aperam and ArcelorMittal.

In 2022, Belgian steelmakers reduced steel production by 0.4% compared to 2021, to 6.94 million tons. In December 2022, the company produced 667 thousand tons of steel, up 13.8% y/y and 28.3% m/m.

In general, steel production in the EU countries in November 2023 increased by 3.2% compared to November last year – to 10.6 million tons. In January-November 2023, the EU produced 117.6 million tons of steel, down by 7.8% 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 production fell by 4.3% y/y last year – to 1.831 billion tons.