According to the latest ‘Bi-Monthly Stainless Steel Report May 2013' issued by Germany-based service centre Damstahl, in the first two months of the current year European stainless crude steel production amounted approximately to 1.4 million mt, falling around one percent compared to the corresponding period of 2012. In Germany, Sweden and Slovenia the combined total production declined at a double-digit rate to around 300,000 mt in 2013, compared to almost 400,000 mt in the same period 2012, as Outokumpu continued to reduce production at its Krefeld meltshop.
According to the report, the situation in the European stainless steel market remains depressed. In the first quarter of the current year, demand from both end-users and stockists remained significantly below last year's level. After a promising start driven by restocking in January, market activity softened again in February and March. But early indicators, like the PMI and business confidence ratings indicate that the European stainless steel market will improve in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, Damstahl said that demand from the building and construction sectors will fall again in 2013 by one or two percent in Europe. Germany (after a very slow start due to the harsh winter), the United Kingdom, Norway and the Baltic Countries are bright spots, where building permits exceed 2012 levels. However, low activity in southern Europe will keep the entire sector down in 2013. Passenger car production weakened in the first three months of this year. Even Germany reported substantially lower passenger car output in the period in question, down 11 percent compared to the same quarter of 2012. For the whole of 2013, at present a decline of three or four percent is forecast in European passenger car production, but the fall could even be bigger. Demand for trucks and off-road vehicles will indicate an even stronger decline than demand for passenger cars, Damstahl predicted.