Posted on 21 Jul 2025
German steelmakers reduced steel production by 15.4% in June 2025 compared to the same month in 2024, to 2.68 million tonnes. Compared to the previous month, the figure fell by 9.2%. The figure has been declining for the sixth consecutive month on an annual basis. This is evidenced by data from the German Steel Industry Association WVStahl.
Steel production in oxygen furnaces totalled 1.74 million tonnes, down 20% y/y and 13.3% m/m, and in electric arc furnaces – 941 thousand tonnes (-7.2% y/y; -0.5% m/m).
Pig iron production in Germany in June decreased by 18.8% compared to June 2024, and by 12.3% compared to May to 1.63 million tonnes. Hot-rolled steel production fell by 10% y/y and 0.04% m/m – to 2.49 million tonnes.
In January-June 2025, the German steel industry reduced steel production by 11.6% y/y – to 17.11 million tonnes. Oxygen converters produced 11.44 million tonnes of steel (-15.1% y/y), and electric arc furnaces produced 5.67 million tonnes (-3.6% y/y). Pig iron production fell by 14.5% y/y over 6 months to 10.64 million tonnes. Rolled steel production decreased by 8.6% y/y – to 15.28 million tonnes.
«The decline in production in our industry is indicative of the dramatic state of Germany’s industrial base. Steel production is now at the level of the financial crisis in 2009,» said Kerstin Maria Rippel, CEO of Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl.
Steelmakers are particularly affected by weak domestic demand from key consumer industries such as construction, machine building and the automotive sector.
«We urgently need a steel summit – a meeting at the highest political level with the industry. This is exactly the step that the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and the Bundesrat should take – we are ready for a dialogue,» Rippel said.
High energy prices remain a particularly acute problem, significantly reducing the competitiveness of steelmakers.
‘Politicians must do everything possible to ensure long-term reliability and competitive electricity prices for energy-intensive industries such as steel,’ concludes WVStahl.
As GMK Center reported earlier, Germany is one of the ten largest steel producers in the world according to World Steel. In 2024, the country increased its steel production by 5.2% compared to 2023 to 37.23 million tonnes. Pig iron production for the year was 24.33 million tonnes (+2.9% y/y), and hot-rolled steel production was 31.61 million tonnes (+3% y/y).
Despite the increase in steel production, the volume of smelting remained below the 40 million tonnes mark for the third consecutive year, which corresponds to the recession level, WVStahl said.
Source:GMK Center
