Sales volumes of German distributors in 2024 equaled those of 2023
German steel distributors sold 9.4 million tons of finished products in 2024, which is almost the same as the previous year, according to Kallanish from the BDS Steel Manufacturers Federation.
At the beginning of the year, nationwide reserves totaled 1.78 million tons, which is the lowest since the beginning of 2020. The recording began after the reunification of Germany in 1990. At the end of the year, this level was 4% lower, making the current year the lowest since the beginning of 1990.
According to the federation, total sales from distributors increased by only 335 tons compared to 2023.
"2018 was the last successful year for German shareholders," Joerg Feger, chief economist at BDS, comments on the statistics. "2019 was marked by a weakening of the economic environment and structural changes," followed by disruptions caused by Covid-19.
The most noticeable negative changes in volume are reported shipments of pipes and fittings, which decreased by 7% to 1.17 million tons. This is 35% less than the record reached in 2008, BDS notes.
The production of rolled and sheet products decreased to a lesser extent, although the production of hot-rolled coils, in particular, fell by 8% year-on-year to 1.11 million tons. BDS believes that large volumes were sold from factories directly to consumers, bypassing distributors, or from warehouses outside Germany, indicating increased import competition.
The volume of cold-rolled strip products remained virtually unchanged and amounted to 1.18 million tons. Surface-coated rolls/strips, the largest type of product (2.72 million tons), fell by 2.3%.
Sales of rolled steel products, which were also affected by competition from foreign warehouses, decreased by 1.7%, totaling 745,000 tons.
Sales of long products, profiles and beams decreased by 1.1% to 870,000 tons. BDS notes that this is a very low level compared to the previous year. Stocks at the end of the year totaled 130,000 tons, down 4.4%, which was also a new record low.
. The positive aspect is the year-on-year increase in sales of candy bars. The volume of rebar production reached 1.17 million tons, an increase of 3.9%. However, this is only a minor recovery from the 19% drop seen in 2023. It was then that the decline in construction activity began, after this segment had flourished in previous years.
The production of other types of bars – bars for sale, as well as bars of special quality (SBQ) – decreased by 1.1% to 788,000 tons. Of the total sales, SBQ accounted for 40%, which is more than double the figure of previous years. The share of SBQ in total production has increased by more than since 1990