The output of crude steel at German mills in August reached 3.6 million tonnes, and was 3% higher than in August 2016, Kallanish learns from the German steel federation WV Stahl.

After three months in which production was lower year-on-year,  August saw the return to an upward trend, the federation notes. For the first eight months, crude steel output was up 2% on 2016, at a total of 29.4mt.

The latest statistics for finished products, up to July, shows that flat products dropped by -6% in that month, whereas long products increased by a healthy 10.5%. Altogether for the first seven months, however, both product groups saw a similar increase of 2.4%.