German steel distributors reduced sales by 17.8% y/y in March

Steel sales in Germany’s distribution and storage system in March 2024 fell by 17.8% y/y and 3.1 mn tons – to 817.46 thousand tons. This is reported by S&P Global with reference to data from the BDS industry association.

Sales of long products in March amounted to 254.76 thousand tons, down 7.6% y/y. Compared to February, they increased by 5.8%, reflecting a seasonally driven increase in demand in the construction sector.

Sales of flat products in the period amounted to 496.75 thousand tons, down 23.1% y/y and up 6.8% compared to February 2024.

Sales of other steel products decreased by 8.8% y/y and 6.4% m/m – to 65.95 thousand tons.

According to BDS, total steel stocks in Germany in March this year were largely stable compared to last year. They amounted to 1.98 million tons (+0.2% y/y). But compared to February 2024, this figure fell by 1.3%.

In March, stocks of flat products amounted to 1.29 million tons (+8.9% y/y, -0.7% m/m), long products – 646.24 thousand tons (-14.1% y/y, -2.6% m/m), other stocks – 44.35 thousand tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, German steelmakers increased steel production by 8.4% in March 2024 compared to the same month in 2023, to 3.51 million tons. Compared to the previous month, the figure increased by 12.5%. The country’s rolled steel output last month amounted to 3.01 million tons, up 1% y/y and 5.5% m/m. In the first quarter, the country increased steel production by 6% y/y – to 9.7 million tons,