Steel production in Europe drops slightly

According to the latest data released by the World Steel Association, steel production in the EU-28 countries fell 0.8 percent during November when compared to an annualized level.

The high yield in November was achieved at the expense of Germany. Germany produced 3.599 million tonnes in the month, down 1.9 percent from the country's 3.668 million tonnes in November 2013.

The minimum steel output was in Croatia. In addition, Croatia's total crude steel production fell sharply by 29.6 percent to 10,000 tonnes in November this year, up from 14,000 tonnes in November 2013. On an annualized basis, Croatia has the largest decline in production.

Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom and other EU-28 countries registered an increase in steel production year on year. Hungary recorded the highest growth in crude steel production in November 2014, rising more than 60 percent over the previous year.

The cumulative volume of steel production in thousand tons for eleven months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 as a percentage of the largest EU producers was: Germany 39694, (+1.3); Italy 22255, (-0.2); France 15031, (+3.7); Spain 13274, (-0.3); UK 11212, (+3.6); Poland 7891, (+7.9); Austria 7252, (-0.4); Belgium 6760, (+2.6); Netherlands 6362, (+4.3).