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In January-November, Spanish steelmakers reduced steel production by 3.3% y/y

In November 2023, Spanish steel companies increased steel production by 10.9% compared to November 2022, to 1.03 million tons. The figure decreased by 0.2% compared to October 2023. This is evidenced by data from the WorldSteel Association.

In January-November 2023, Spanish steelmakers reduced steel production by 3.3% compared to the same period last year – to 10.55 million tons.

The average monthly steel production in Spain for the first 11 months amounted to 959.1 thousand tons, while in the same period of 2022 the figure was 991.8 thousand tons (-3.29% y/y).

In 2022, Spain reduced steel production by 19.2% compared to 2021, to 11.46 million tons. In December, the country’s metallurgists produced 686 thousand tons of steel, down 19.8% compared to the previous month.

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 2023, the EU produced 117.6 million tons of steel, down 7.8% y/y.

The low steel production in January-November this year 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.