The Netherlands reduced steel production by 25% y/y in 2023

The decrease in the indicator is probably a consequence of the shutdown of blast furnace No. 6 Tata Steel IJmuiden from March 2023

In 2023, the Netherlands reduced steel production by 24.9% compared to 2022, to 4.7 million tons. Thus, the country ranked 33rd in the global ranking of steel producing countries by WorldSteel, according to the association.

The Netherlands has one operating steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden. Its capacity reaches 7.5 million tons of steel and 6.31 million tons of iron per year. The force majeure circumstances that befell Tata Steel in 2023 are likely to have affected the industry’s performance.

At the end of March 2023, Tata Steel IJmuiden’s blast furnace No. 6 was suspended for maintenance. Since then, the restart of the unit has been postponed several times due to technical issues, and by the end of the year, it had not resumed operations.

However, after a 10-month downtime, the unit is now at the ramp-up stage. On January 31, 2024, the company started the restart process and is gradually increasing pig iron production. Blast furnace No. 6 accounts for about 40% of the company’s total annual pig iron production.

Steel production in the Netherlands has been declining for the second year in a row. In 2022, the country’s steel industry reduced steel production by 7.2% y/y, while in 2021 it increased by 9.4% y/y – to 6.6 million tons.

In 2024, steel production in the Netherlands is likely to increase as the resumption of Tata Steel IJmuiden’s BF No. 6 and the expected increase in demand for steel products will help boost the figure.

In general, steel production in the European Union in 2023 decreased by 7.4% compared to 2022 – to 126.3 million tons.