European crude steel production reported a nominal decline in August this year. Domestic regional production totaled 11.454 million tons during the month, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel). This slightly decreased by 2.2% compared with production of 11.714 million tons, reached by the region in the same month a year earlier.
The top five steel producing countries in the region included Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Poland. Total production in the above five countries amounted to 6.941 million tons, which is more than 60% of total regional production. Germany topped the list, releasing 3.266 million tons of steel within a month. German production grew slightly by 0.8% compared with the previous year. Steel production in Spain for the month fell by 4.6%. French production amounted to 1,050 million tons, an increase of 11.2% year on year. Steel production in Italy fell by almost 27%. Production in Poland also decreased by 15.6% compared to the same period last year.
The cumulative steel production from January to August of this year also showed a slight decrease of 2.9% compared with the previous year. Steel production in the EU-28 amounted to 109,091 million tons until August this year. In the corresponding eight-month period in 2018, output in Croatia fell the most. The country's production fell by 17.4% when compared with the previous year. On the other hand, Austrian products recorded the highest annualized growth of 14.4%.
