Germany reduced steel production by 10.5% y/y in August

In August 2025, German steel enterprises reduced steel production by 10.5% compared to the same month in 2024, to 2.58 million tons. Compared to the previous month, the figure fell by 5.2%. Production volumes have been declining for the eighth consecutive month year-on-year. This is evidenced by data from the German Steel Industry Association WVStahl.

Steel production in oxygen converters amounted to 1.94 million tons, which is 9.6% less year-on-year and 2.3% more month-on-month, and in electric arc furnaces – 636 thousand tons (-22.5% year-on-year; -13.4% month-on-month).

Pig iron production in Germany in August decreased by 11.6% compared to August 2024 and increased by 0.2% compared to July, to 1.74 million tons. Hot-rolled steel production fell by 6.3% y/y and 11% m/m to 2.19 million tons.

In January-August 2025, Germany’s steel industry reduced steel production by 11.9% y/y to 22.4 million tons. Oxygen converters produced 15.28 million tons of steel (-15.2% y/y), and electric arc furnaces produced 7.13 million tons (-3.8% y/y). Pig iron production fell by 14.6% y-o-y – to 14.12 million tons in the first eight months of the year. Rolled steel production decreased by 7.7% y-o-y – to 19.94 million tons.

As reported by GMK Center, Germany is among the world’s top ten steel producers according to World Steel. At the end of 2024, the country increased its steel output by 5.2% compared to 2023, to 37.23 million tons. Pig iron production for the year amounted to 24.33 million tons (+2.9% y-o-y), and hot-rolled steel production amounted to 31.61 million tons (+3% y-o-y).

Despite the growth in steel production, smelting volumes remained below the 40 million ton threshold for the third consecutive year, which corresponds to the level of recession, according to WVStahl.