Poland increased steel production by 26.4% m/m in August

In August 2023, steel enterprises of Poland increased steel production by 26.4% compared to the previous month – up to 512 thousand tons. This is evidenced by WorldSteel Association’s data.

On an annual basis, steel production in Poland decreased by 16.6% as of August 2023.

In January-August 2023, Polish steelmakers produced 4.31 million tons of steel. This is 20.3% less compared to the same period in 2022.

In January-August, the average monthly steel production in Poland amounted to 539.2 thousand tons, while for the same period in 2022, the indicator was at the level of 676.7 thousand tons (-20.3% y/y).

There are 10 steel enterprises located in Poland, in particular two electric arc plants – in Krakow (annual capacity of 2.6 million tons of finished products) and Dąbrowa Górnicza  (5 million tons), and 8 blast furnaces – Chozów (145 thousand tons), Częstochowa (800 thousand tons), Gliwice (250 thousand tons), Katowice (65 thousand tons), Ostrovets (900 thousand tons), Stałowa Wola (240 thousand tons), Warsaw (750 thousand tons), Zawertsi (1.34 million tons).

In 2022, Poland reduced steel production by 8.6% compared to 2021 – up to 7.73 million tons. Thus, the country took 22nd place in the global ranking of WorldSteel steel producers.

In general, steel production in the countries of the European Union in August 2023 fell by 4.4% compared to August last year – to 9.1 million tons. In January-August 2023, 85.7 million tons of steel were produced in the EU, which is 9.8% less y/y.

The year-over-year decline in steel production is likely due to weak demand for finished products, as well as unfavorable price conditions. The high production costs of steelmakers do not allow reducing steel prices to levels that would be favorable for buyers, so the demand for domestic products is low. At the same time, imported steel is in demand thanks to lower prices.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022 European steelmakers reduced steel production by 10.5% compared to 2021 – to 136.7 million tons. In general, global steel output last year fell by 4.3% y/y – to 1.831 billion tons.