According to the latest ‘Stainless Steel Report August 2013' issued by Germany-based service center Damstahl, in the first five months of the current year European stainless crude steel production dropped around three percent year on year to 3.3 million mt.
In Germany, Sweden and Slovenia, the combined total production amounted to 800,000 mt in the first five months of 2013, falling seven percent compared to the same period of 2012. Damstahl noted that Germany's production dropped by seven percent year on year in the period in question, mainly due to the winding down of Outokumpu's Krefeld melt shop.
According to the report, in the first half of the current year demand in the southern European countries (Italy, Spain, France and Portugal) stagnated at a low level. Different to last year, when Germany, Benelux and Scandinavia were able to perform against the trend, lower market activity is seen in all major markets throughout 2013. For the whole of 2013, Damstahl expects a fall around three percent in stainless steel demand in Europe compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, Damstahl said that stainless steel demand from most end-use segments in Europe remained disappointing in the second quarter of the current year. Building activity in Germany has improved from May this year and for the entire year a positive growth of two percent is expected. But the weakening southern Europe will keep the entire European growth in negative territory in the current year. Meanwhile, no signs for improvement of the European car industry for the second half of the year. According to German automotive industry research institutes, it will take until 2020 to reach the pre-2008 level in car sales in Europe, and so European producers are trying to increase their sales in other regions.
