According to worldsteel, the volume of steel production in Southeastern Europe (SEE) in July amounted to 224,357 tons, which is at the level of the previous month, but less than 236,441 tons in July 2024.
In the first seven months of the year, regional production totaled 1.66 million tons, compared with 1.76 million tons in January-July 2024, Kallanish notes.
In May, Serbia again became the largest steel producer among the seven SEE countries, which also include Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, North Macedonia and Moldova.
However, worldsteel did not provide data on steel production in Bosnia and Moldova for June.
Steel production in Serbia in January-July increased by 1.6% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 816,600 tons.
Slovenia, the second largest producer in the region, increased production in seven months, the volume of production remained virtually unchanged compared to the same period last year and amounted to 380,437 tons. Specialty steel producer Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ) reported revenue of 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) in 2024, unchanged from the previous year, and expects the steel market to rebound this year.
Bulgaria's third largest steel producer did not increase crude steel production by 300,500 tons year-on-year in January-June.
North Macedonia produced 161,947 tons, which is 16.4% less than last year.
Croatia did not produce steel in January-July.
In June, the Bulgarian government granted permission to supply steel due to EU sanctions against Russia. cast iron and steel for the Bulgarian nuclear power plant Kozloduy (see Kallanish Passim). A significant part of the nuclear equipment is Russian and cannot be replaced by imports from other countries.
In June, ArcelorMittal signed a purchase and sale agreement for its facilities in Bosnia. The ArcelorMittal Zenica steel mill and the ArcelorMittal Prijedor iron ore mining company, which supplies the Zenica plant, will be sold to the Bosnian real estate company Pavgord Group.
Zenica is the largest producer of long products in the Balkans with a capacity of 700,000 tons per year. The main product range includes rebar in bars and coils, wire rod, mesh and lattice beams.
Svyatoslav Abrosimov Bulgaria
Kallanish.com
