Construction in the European Union fell by 0.7% m/m in August

In August 2023, production in the construction sector of the European Union fell by 0.7% compared to the previous month. This is evidenced by Eurostat’s data.

Compared to August 2022, in August 2023, seasonally adjusted production in the EU construction sector increased by 0.2%.

Among EU countries, the largest monthly decline in construction was recorded in Belgium (-5% m/m) and Hungary (-5%). The highest growth was observed in Romania (+4.7% m/m), Poland (+2.1%) and the Czech Republic (+2%).

The construction of engineering structures in the EU fell by 0.9% m/m and increased by 3.8% y/y, while the construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) decreased by 0.4% m/m and 0.6% y/y.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in July 2023, the production of construction sector of the EU increased by 0.7% compared to the previous month. The construction of engineering structures in the EU increased by 0.8% m/m and 2.8% y/y, while the construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) decreased by 1.7% m/m and increased by 0.6% y/y.

Stagnation of the EU construction sector has a negative impact on demand and sentiment on the domestic market of long-term rolled steel. Since the end of 2020, construction in the European Union has been in a long period of recovery thanks to significant government support, which stimulated demand for steel products, but since the beginning of this year, as steelmakers noted, the European construction sector has suffered due to macroeconomic problems and uncertainty in the market.

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.