Spain increased steel production by 10% m/m in May

In May 2023, Spanish steel companies increased steel production by 10% compared to the previous month – up to 1.45 million tons. This is evidenced by WorldSteel Association’s data.

Compared to May 2022, Spanish steelmakers reduced steel production by 15.7% in May 2023.

In January-May 2023, Spanish steelmakers produced 4.79 million tons of steel, which is 10.7% less than in the same period of 2022.

In 2022, Spain reduced steel production by 19.2% compared to 2021 – to 11.46 million tons. In December, the country’s steelmakers produced 686,000 tons of steel, which is 19.8% less than the previous month.

In general, steel production in the countries of the European Union in May 2023 fell by 11.2% compared to May last year – to 11.6 million tons. In January-May 2023, 56 million tons of steel were produced in the EU, which is 10.4% less y/y.

The drop in steel production in May 2023 is likely due to a drop in steel prices and product sales. Uncertainty in the market forces steel producers to reduce production volumes in line with weak demand.

At the same time, in comparison with April, steel production in Spain increased due to the resumption of ArcelorMittal’s steel plant – Acería Compacta de Bizkaia (ACB) in Cestao. At the same time, the company has not yet completed the cleanup after the blast furnace A fire at the Gijon plant.

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.