Germany increased its steel production by 7.3% y/y in May

In May 2026, Germany increased its steel output by 7.3 per cent year-on-year to 3.2 million tonnes. This is according to data from the country’s Steel Industry Association (WV Stahl).

Compared with April, steel production fell slightly – by 0.9 per cent.

Oxygen converters produced 2.24 million tonnes of steel during the month, which is 15.4% more than in May 2025. Compared with April, output in this segment rose by 0.9%.

By contrast, steel production in electric arc furnaces stood at 962,000 tonnes, falling by 7.7% year-on-year and 5% month-on-month.

Pig iron production in May rose by 6.9% year-on-year to 1.96 million tonnes. Compared with April, the figure fell by 5%. Production of hot-rolled steel for the month stood at 2.65 million tonnes, down 0.4% year-on-year and 3.7% compared with the previous month.

Over the first five months of this year, steel output in the country rose by 8.8% year-on-year to 15.7 million tonnes. Pig iron output in January–May increased by 9.8% compared with the same period last year, to 9.9 million tonnes, whilst hot-rolled steel output rose by 4.9% year-on-year, to 13.4 million tonnes.

As noted by WV Stahl, despite the positive developments of recent months, there is no basis for speaking of a full recovery. Production remains below the level required for sufficient capacity utilisation.

It should be recalled that, in 2025, Germany reduced its steel output by 8.6% compared with 2024 – to 34.09 million tonnes. Last year, 23.64 million tonnes of steel were produced in basic oxygen furnaces (-10.7% year-on-year), and 10.44 million tonnes in electric arc furnaces (-3.5% year-on-year). Pig iron production over the 12-month period fell by 10.1% year-on-year to 21.87 million tonnes, whilst rolled steel production fell by 5.5% year-on-year to 29.76 million tonnes.