Construction in the EU fell by 0.4% m/m in February

Production in the construction sector of the European Union in February 2025 decreased by 0.4% compared to the previous month. Compared to February 2024, the seasonally adjusted figure increased by 0.3%. This is evidenced by preliminary data from Eurostat.

Among the Member States, the largest monthly decline was observed in Slovenia (-4.0%), Germany (-3.2%) and Poland (-2.3%). The largest growth was observed in Portugal (+2.9%), France (+1.5%) and Sweden (+1.3%).

In February, construction of engineering structures in the EU decreased by 0.5% month-on-month and by 1.9% y/y, while construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) decreased by 1.8% m/m and 3.6% y/y.

It should be noted that according to the final data, in January 2025, production in the EU construction sector increased by 0.2% compared to the previous month and by 0.5% y/y. The construction of engineering structures decreased by 2.9% m/m and increased by 0.9% y/y, while the construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) increased by 0.6% m/m and 0.5% y/y.

As GMK Center reported earlier, the average annual output in EU construction in 2024 decreased by 1.3% compared to 2023.

The overwhelming stagnation in the EU construction sector has a negative impact on demand and sentiment in the domestic long products market. Since the end of 2020, construction in the EU has been in a prolonged recovery period thanks to significant government support, which has boosted demand for steel products. However, since the beginning of 2023, the European construction sector has been suffering from macroeconomic problems and market uncertainty.

According to Eurofer, in 2025, the EU construction sector is expected to grow by 2% y/y. In 2024, the indicator decreased by 0.4% y/y.