In a current press release, the Steel Association takes stock of steel production in Germany in 2023. This reached a historically low level in 2023 due to weak demand and internationally uncompetitive electricity prices. Even in December 2023, the decline in crude steel production continued, with a year-on-year decline of 2.3 percent. This negative trend, which has existed since the beginning of 2022, continued in the fourth quarter of 2023, with production approximately 5 percent below the previous year's level.
In 2023, the total production of steel in Germany amounted to just 35.4 million tonnes, the lowest production volume since the financial market crisis in 2009. Although there was a rapid recovery at that time after a sharp downturn due to the recession, a different picture emerges in the current scenario.
German crude steel production
The decline in electrical steel production was particularly dramatic this time; last year it fell by around 11 percent to 9.8 million tons - even below the level of the financial market crisis of 2009 (11.3 million tons). The weak construction sector combined with high electricity prices left a particularly noticeable mark on this electricity-intensive production sector. Oxygen steel production was also only able to stabilize at an extremely low level last year.
Serious situation for steel production
Kerstin Maria Rippel, General Manager of the Steel Association, commented on the finding:
“The annual balance of steel production in Germany clearly shows that the situation for the steel industry – and especially the electrical steel route – is very serious. There is still an urgent need for political action here: This is particularly acute when it comes to the still uncompetitive electricity costs, which, with transmission network fees that have doubled since the beginning of the year, are higher than ever before.”
The federal government also urgently needs to put the financing of the transformation to climate neutrality, which has been in question since the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on the climate and transformation fund, on a solid financial basis, Rippel continued:
“We need a clear political concept on how the path to climate neutrality should be sustainably financed. This is a central building block to further advance the transformation of the steel industry and the decarbonization of our country as a whole.”
