Rolled steel consumption in Germany fell by 12.9% y/y in January-September

In January-September 2023, German companies reduced consumption of rolled steel by 12.9% year-on-year – to 21.82 million tons. This is evidenced by GMK Center’s calculations based on Eurostat data and the German steel association WV Stahl.

In 9 months, Germany imported 11.3 million tons of rolled steel (long and flat products), down 24.4% compared to the same period in 2022. At the same time, imports from third countries amounted to 588.2 thousand tons (-31.7% y/y), and from the EU – 10.71 million tons (-23.9%). Imports account for 51.8% of the domestic rolled steel consumption market in Germany. The share of imports in domestic consumption of steel products fell by 7.8 percentage points y/y.

The structure of imports is characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products – 67.6% and 32.4%, respectively. In the same period of 2022, the dominance of flat products over long products was slightly lower, but still noticeable – 65.9% and 34.1%, respectively.

In January-September 2023, German steelmakers produced 23.55 million tons of hot-rolled steel products, down 5.8% compared to the same period in 2022. The company exported 13.02 million tons of products, down 12.5% y/y, including 2.56 million tons (-9.9% y/y) to third countries and 10.47 million tons (-13.1% y/y) – to the EU market. The domestic market received 10.53 million tons of rolled products, up 4% y/y. This year, German steelmakers have increased shipments to the domestic market, with the share of exports in total output amounting to 55.3% in 9M2023, compared to 59.5% in January-September 2022.

The share of flat products in export deliveries increased to 70.1% over 9 months compared to 67.7% a year earlier. The share of long products in exports decreased to 29.9% from 32.3%.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Germany in January-September 2023 reduced production of steel by 3.6% compared to the same period in 2022 – to 27.23 million tons. Production increased by 0.1% y/y – up to 18.1 million tons. Rolled steel output reached 23.55 million tons (-5% y/y).