Spain increased steel production by 5.1% y/y in October

In October 2023, Spanish steel companies increased steel production by 5.1% compared to October 2022 – up to 1.03 million tons. Compared to September 2023, the indicator decreased by 3.5%. This is evidenced by WorldSteel Association’s data.

In January-October 2023, Spanish steelmakers reduced steel production by 4.6% year-on-year – to 9.52 million tons.

The average monthly steel production in Spain for 10 months amounted to 952 thousand tons, while in the same period in 2022 the figure was 998.1 thousand tons (-4.62% y/y).

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 thousand tons of steel, down 19.8% compared to the previous month.

In general, steel production in the EU countries in October 2023 fell by 7.1% compared to October last year – to 10.6 million tons. In January-October 2023, the EU produced 106.8 million tons of steel, down 8.8% y/y.

The low steel production in January-October 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.