Poland reduced steel production by 9.7% m/m in November

In November 2023, Polish steelmakers reduced steel production by 9.7% compared to the previous month, to 521 thousand tons. This is evidenced by data from the WorldSteel Association.

Year-on-year, steel production in Poland increased by 26.2% in November 2023.

In January-November 2023, Polish steelmakers produced 5.96 million tons of steel. This is down 14.9% compared to the same period in 2022.

The average monthly steel production in Poland in January-November amounted to 543.6 thousand tons, while in the same period of 2022 the figure was 659 thousand tons (-17.51% y/y).

There are 10 steel plants in Poland, including two blast furnaces in Krakow (annual capacity of 2.6 million tons of finished products) and Dąbrowa Górnicza (5 million tons), and 8 electric arc furnaces in Chorzów (145 thousand tons). t), Częstochowa (800 thousand tons), Gliwice (250 thousand tons), Katowice (65 thousand tons), Ostrowiec (900 thousand tons), Stalowa Wola (240 thousand tons), Warsaw (750 thousand tons), and Zawiercie (1.34 million tons).

In 2022, Poland reduced steel production by 8.6% compared to 2021, to 7.73 million tons. Thus, the country was ranked 22nd in the global steel producer ranking by WorldSteel.

In general, steel production in the EU countries in November 2023 increased by 3.2% compared to November last year – up to 10.6 million tons. In January-November this year, the EU produced 117.6 million tons of steel, down 7.8% y/y.

The low steel production in January-November 2023 is due to the weak market conditions that have been observed since the fall of 2022. The European steel industry is facing high production costs at a time when demand for domestic steel products is weak amid a flood of cheaper imported products. Many companies have now limited their capacity to balance supply and demand and stabilize product 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.