German steel production to plummet again in July

Crude steel production in Germany fell sharply for the fourth straight month in July to levels reached during the financial crisis, down 24.7% year on year to 2.4 million tonnes, German Steel Federation WV Stahl said.

Compared to the previous month, steel production fell by 2.1%. Production in January-July was 16.9% less than a year earlier and amounted to 19.9 million tons.
As German steel mills continued to cut production beyond normal summer maintenance in July, blast furnace steel production fell 29% year-over-year to 1.7 million tonnes. Electric arc furnace production fell 13.1% to 758,000 tonnes.

Pig iron production in July fell 28.8% YoY to 1.5 million tonnes, while hot-rolled steel production fell 21.9% to 2.3 million tonnes.

Germany's largest steelmaker, Thyssenkrupp, estimates it will produce 9 million tonnes of rough steel this year, down from the “normal” 11 million tonnes due to weaker demand from its core customer group, the automotive industry, ”said Thyssenkrupp Steel CEO Bernhard. Osburg, German media reported. The steelmaker said that he will work at a capacity utilization of just over 60%, which is in line with the performance of similar enterprises in Germany.

Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine said on August 21 that it will restart an idle blast furnace in Linz in early September as it sees slow growth in demand. The other idle blast furnace at Donavitz is undergoing gasket replacement until October and will be shut down until demand increases significantly.