The European Union recorded the first growth in production for 3 years

In 2024, the first annual increase in steel production was recorded in the EU since 2021, but production volumes still remained lower than 2020, which suffered from Covid, since financial difficulties affected some steel manufacturers.

The production of steel in the EU in 2024 increased by 2.6% compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to 129.49 million tons, the WorldSteel data noted.

The largest regional manufacturer Germany in 2024 increased production volumes by 5.2% compared to last year to 37.2 million tons, although this happened with a long minimum in 2023. Production volumes remained below the well -like tonnages; However, they surpassed the indicators of 2020 and became the highest since 2019, with the exception of the year of restoration after the covid crisis - 2021.

The second largest manufacturer Italy showed itself much worse: the production of raw steel in 2024 was reduced by 5% - from the already low base - to 20.01 million tons against the background of ongoing production difficulties at a steel factory in Taranto, one of the largest in Europe . This is the lowest production indicator since 2009.

In France in 2024, the production volume increased by 7.6% to 10.76 million tons, but from a long minimum, since in 2023, due to the fire in the domain furnace, the capacity was disconnected. In Spain, the production volume has increased by 3.3% to 11.82 million tons, which is the highest in 2019, with the exception of 2021.

The volume of production in the EU last year also increased due to the resumption of the work of the blast furnace in Aimeiden, which increased the volume of production in the Netherlands by 36% to 6.37 million tons, which is the highest indicator from 2019, with the exception of 2021. The volume of production in Belgium increased by about 21% to 7.1 million tons, which is also the highest in 2019, with the exception of 2021. The volume of production in Poland increased by about 10% to 7.08 million tons, but from a long minimum.

Against the background of production stops at various Liberty Steel plants, raw steel production fell in the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. In the first of these countries, production fell by 25% to 2.55 million tons, since the activities at its largest steel plant in the acutebus stopped, and the plant was put up for sale.

In Romania, production fell by about 16% to 1.36 million tons - Galats - the only remaining Liberty factory in Central and Eastern Europe. Hungarian production fell to about 240,000 tons, which is 50% less than in 2023, and 1.5 million tons in 2020.

The European Association of Manufacturers has become Eurofer tirelessly lobbying for more stringent restrictions on steel imports in the EU and the EU policy in the field of steel and industry amid the growth of costs and a decrease in competitiveness in the block. The new European commission, which began its work in December, is currently working on both issues.