Construction in the European Union fell by 0.6% m/m in October

Production in the construction sector of the European Union in October 2023 decreased by 0.6% compared to the previous month. This is evidenced by Eurostat data.

Compared to October 2022, in October 2023, seasonally adjusted production in EU construction decreased by 0.4%.

Among the EU countries, the largest monthly decline in construction was recorded in Slovenia (-6.1% m/m) and Germany and Slovakia (-2.2% m/m each). The largest growth was observed in Romania and Sweden (+3% m/m).

The construction of engineering structures in the EU increased by 0.5% m/m and 2.2% y/y over the month, while the construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) decreased by 0.6% m/m and 0.8% y/y.

According to the final data for September 2023, production in the EU construction sector increased by 0.6% compared to the previous month. The construction of engineering structures in the EU increased by 0.5% m/m and 2.2% y/y over the month, and the construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) increased by 0.7% m/m and 0.1% y/y.

The stagnation of 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 European Union has been in a long period of recovery due to significant government support, which stimulated demand for steel products, but since the beginning of this year, according to steelmakers, the European construction sector has been suffering from macroeconomic problems and market uncertainty.

According to Eurofer forecasts, in 2023 volumes of construction in the EU will decrease by a moderate 0.5% and recover to +0.7% in 2024. In 2022, volume of production in construction EU sector grew by 4.8%. In the fourth quarter, this indicator decreased by 0.2% year-on-year.