Steel sales in Germany increased by 76.3% m/m in January

The growth was driven by increased demand for flat products

In January 2025, steel sales in Germany increased by 76.3% compared to the previous month – to 814.86 thousand tons. At the same time, the figure decreased by 0.9% compared to January 2024. This is evidenced by the data of the Association of German Steel Distributors (BDS), according to S&P Global.

The increase compared to December was primarily due to an increase in flat products sales, which jumped by 80.8% m/m, reaching 508.12 thousand tons. Despite this, flat products sales remained 5.1% lower year-on-year.

Sales of long products in January amounted to 228.25 thousand tons, up 67.6% from December and 11.9% from January last year.

Market participants surveyed by Platts point to the latest news on US tariffs and the German elections as creating optimistic expectations in the market. Some analysts also point to stable fundamentals, emphasizing that key demand drivers have not changed significantly in recent weeks.

Platts estimated the domestic price of hot rolled coil (HRC) in Northwest Europe at €605/t (ex-works Ruhr) as of February 20, which remains stable compared to the previous day and €5/t higher than a week ago.

At the same time, steel stocks in Germany amounted to 1.89 million tons in January, up 6.4% y/y but down 0.6% m/m.

Stocks of flat products amounted to 1.21 million tons, which is 63.8% of the total stocks. This is down 1.1% y/y, but up 8.8% compared to December.

Stocks of long products reached 651.35 thousand tons, or 34.4% of total steel stocks. This is 0.8% more than in the same period last year and 2% more than in December.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Germany increased steel production by 5.2% in 2024 compared to 2023 – to 37.23 million tons. Pig iron production for the year amounted to 24.33 million tons (+2.9% y/y), and hot-rolled steel production amounted to 31.61 million tons (+3% y/y).