According to Tathya Earth, an analytical platform that tracks production using satellite data, iron smelting in Europe last week was at one of the lowest levels since such observations began.
Activity in the vast majority of plants ArcelorMittal, monitored from space by Tathya, declined during the week. Interestingly, production at US Steel's Kosice plant in Slovakia reached its lowest level since January 2022, despite the company claiming it did not shut down the blast furnace due to low demand.
There was an overall decline in production in Germany, reflecting the decline in demand in the largest consumer market in Western Europe. Production in Austria also fell, extending the lower levels seen in April.
According to Worldsteel, production in Austria fell by 6.5% in April. Tathya data also showed a decline in production in Austria last month. Austrian steel producer Voestalpine's sub-index hit a low of 0.048 earlier in the month, but recovered somewhat in the following weeks.
European hot-rolled coil (HRC) plants are expected to further reduce their capacity due to weak demand and looming summer calm. The main HRC indices from Argus in Italy and the northwest EU have fallen in recent months.
The daily HRC index for the northwest EU fell to 692.75 euros/t on June 7 from 806.75 euros/t at the beginning of May, while the Italian index fell to 655.25 euros/t from 813.75 euros/t in the same period.
