EU construction fell by 1% m/m in November

Production in the construction sector of the European Union in November 2023 decreased by 1% compared to the previous month. This is evidenced by Eurostat data.

Compared to November 2022, in November 2023, seasonally adjusted production in EU construction decreased by 2.1%.

Among the EU countries, the largest monthly decline in construction was recorded in the Czech Republic (-3.8% m/m), Germany (-2.9% m/m) and Hungary (-2.6% m/m). The highest growth was observed in Romania (+2.6% m/m) and Slovakia (+2.4% m/m).

Construction of engineering structures in the EU fell by 0.2% m/m and increased by 0.2% y/y over the month, while the construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) decreased by 1.1% m/m and 2.5% y/y.

According to the final data for October 2023, production in the EU construction sector fell by 0.4% compared to the previous month. The construction of engineering structures in the EU increased by 0.3% m/m and 1.7% y/y over the month, while the construction of buildings (residential and non-residential) fell by 0.3% m/m and 0.8% y/y.

Stagnation of the EU construction sector is having 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 recovery period thanks to significant government support, which has boosted demand for steel products, but since the beginning of 2023, according to steelmakers, the European construction sector has been suffering from macroeconomic problems and market uncertainty.

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