Poland increased steel production by 8.3% m/m in December 2022

In 2022, the country's steelmakers reduced steel production by 8.6% y/y

In December 2022, the steel enterprises of Poland increased steel production by 8.3% compared to the previous month – up to 575 thousand tons. This is evidenced by WorldSteel Association’s data.

Annually, steel production in Poland decreased by 16.4%, as of December 2022.

In 2022, Polish steelmakers produced 7.73 million tons of steel. This is 8.6% less compared to the same period in 2021.

In 2021, Poland increased its steel production by 6.5% compared to 2020 – up to 8.4 million tons. Thus, the country took 22nd place in the global rating of WorldSteel steel producers.

In general, steel production in the countries of the European Union in December 2022 fell by 16.7% compared to December last year – to 9.2 million tons. In 2022, the indicator decreased by 10.5% y/y – to 136.7 million tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, European steelmakers are massively reducing or stopping production against the background of rising electricity tariffs. At the same time, the European market is filled with imported steel products, which attract consumers by lower prices than local ones. Countries that supply cheap steel to the EU market do not pay emissions taxes and receive cheaper electricity than European producers. Because of this, the demand for European rolled steel fell, and production costs rose sharply.

According to Fastmarkets, since September 2022, about 14-15 million tons of annual steel capacities have already been stopped in Europe. ArcelorMittal, the leading steel producer in Europe, stopped about 7 million tons of annual capacity.