Belgium reduced steel production by 8.8% m/m in October

In October 2023, Belgian steelmakers reduced steel production by 8.8% compared to the previous month – to 438 thousand tons. Year-on-year, steel production in the country decreased by 29.6%. This is evidenced by data from the WorldSteel Association.

In January-October 2023, steel production in Belgium amounted to 5.22 million tons, which is 11.4% less than in the same period in 2022.

The average monthly steel production in Belgium in January-October amounted to 522.3 thousand tons, while in the same period of 2022 the figure was 589.6 thousand tons (-11.4% 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 October 2023 fell by 7.1% compared to October last year – to 10.6 million tons. In January-October 2023, the EU produced 106.8 million tons of steel, down 8.8% 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.