Facts and Figures about the Steel Industry in Germany

Facts and Figures about the Steel Industry in Germany

These are turbulent times, some say. We’re on the cusp of a new era, say others. And to put it bluntly: the crises are coming fast and furious!

After the pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the consequences of which are still causing exorbitant increases in electricity prices, we’re currently experiencing an economy that simply refuses to recover – exacerbated by a budgetary crisis at the end of 2023 as an aftershock of an unexpected Federal Constitutional Court ruling.

Uncertainty is spreading. Not exclusively in the steel industry, but nevertheless in this sector particularly. What’s at stake here is the restructuring of an industry that, as the foundation of almost all value chains, is of enormous importance for Germany – and Europe – as an economic hub. If this transition fails, it wouldn’t merely be about jobs. Rather, our country’s prosperity and resilience and, most acutely, the achievement of our climate goals would be at risk.

Perhaps it’s this tremendous risk that’s ultimately making it abundantly clear to everyone that the transition of our industry itself is non-negotiable. It’s set, it will and it must come. This requires a political framework that not only enables the industry to take on a global pioneering role in the production of green steel, but also to produce competitively locally in Germany.

In order to achieve this, we not only need a clear political commitment, but also solid financing for our transition. And this needs to happen in a timely manner: What’s needed now is start-up funding, competitive energy prices and measures that effectively protect us against rapidly growing, emission-intensive overproduction.

Companies are ready for the conversion to climate-neutral production, have clear transition plans and have invested hundreds of millions of euros, and have taken risks. It’s now up to politicians to keep the commitments already described in the German steel action concept (Handlungskonzept Stahl) and made in the German coalition agreement.

4 Facts and Figures about the Steel Industry in Germany

Politicians are aware of this and, on closer inspection, some things are actually starting to happen: Definitions and standards for a green steel label system – the basis for key green markets – have been agreed in a broad stakeholder process together with the Federal Ministry of Economics, and a complete rule book has been developed at the same time. With this asset in hand, the Federal Government can now continue its work and make the standards compatible throughout Europe and internationally.

In this publication, we would like to present you key facts and figures from the steel industry that will provide you an overview of our industry in Germany, demonstrate our importance for the economy and industrial value creation, highlight our contribution to achieving climate targets and explain how important the circular economy is to us.

Please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely Yours,

Kerstin Maria Rippel Chief Executive Officer

Largest

steel producer in the EU and seventh largest globally

70 per cent

Primary steel

30 per cent

Secondary steel

Over 2,500 grades of steel for a wide range of applications: from heavy plate to the finest wire

About 80,000 direct jobs and more than 4 million in steel-intensive industries

Production with best conditions for people and the environment in international comparison

© Cayetano Gil/Unsplash

Steel production sites

Crude steel production in 2022 (total production in Germany):

36.9 million tonnes

Engelskirchen (21)

Wiehl (21)

Lingen (3)

Georgsmarienhütte (4)

Duisburg (9, 10, 11)

Witten (12,21)

Werdohl (21)

Siegen (12, 16) Wetzlar (13)

Bous (4)

Völklingen (18)

Kehl (19)

Integrated steelworks (blast furnace, steel and rolling mill)

Steel production based on iron ore (primary steel production)

Electric steelworks

Steel production with electricity based on steel scrap (secondary steel production)

Germany is a prime location for technologically leading, highly competitive steel manufacturers.

(1) ArcelorMittal Hamburg

(2) ArcelorMittal Bremen

(3) Benteler

(4) Georgsmarienhütte Holding

(5) Salzgitter

(6) Brandenburger Elektrostahlwerk

(7) Hennigsdorfer Elektrostahlwerk

(8) ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt

(9) thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (10) HKM

(11) ArcelorMittal Duisburg (12) Deutsche Edelstahlwerke

(13) Buderus Edelstahl

(14) Stahlwerk Thüringen

(15) ESF Elbe-Stahlwerke Feralpi (16) BGH Edelstahl

(17) Dillinger Hüttenwerke (18) Saarstahl (19) Badische Stahlwerke (20) Lech-Stahlwerke (21) Other steel locations

Status: January 2022

Source: WV Stahl

Hamburg (1)

Brandenburg (6)

Hennigsdorf (7)

Peine (5)

Freital (16)

Riesa (15)

Gröditz (4)

Unterwellenborn (14)

Meitingen (20)

Dillingen (17)

Salzgitter (5)

Bremen (2)

Eisenhüttenstadt (8)

Hanau (21)

In 2022, crude steel production in Germany fell to 36.9 million tonnes.

Crude steel production

Crude steel production in Germany fell to 36.9 million tonnes in 2022. Above all, electric steel production, which is dominated by medium-sized companies, is moving dramatically downward. In this area, production is even below the level of the crisis year 2009.

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt, WV Stahl

Approximately

4 million people in Germany work in steel-intensive industries, around 80,000 for the steel industry directly.

The manufacturing industry in Germany is predominantly steel-intensive

The largest steel-intensive industries employ around 4 million people. That’s about two thirds of all industrial jobs in Germany.

Source: RWI, Stat. Bundesamt, Bauhauptverband, own calculations (WV Stahl)

Steel industry revenue in Germany

Steel companies’ revenues increased by €13.8 billion in 2022 compared to the previous year, reaching a new high. This was mainly due to extremely high energy costs.

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt

Market supply rolled steel

After market supply had just recovered slightly in 2021, it declined again in 2022.

Source: WV Stahl, Außenhandelsstatistik

The most important customer sectors for the steel industry

Now as before, the construction, automotive and mechanical engineering industries continue to be the most important customer sectors for the steel industry. The use of green steel helps to further improve the product carbon footprint in these industries.

Automotive: 28%

Construction: 33%

Household

Others: 2%

Pipes: 9%

Status: 2022

Source: WV Stahl

Steel industry: The path to climate neutrality is a step-by-step process

› CO2 savings potential exhausted with blast furnace converters in production

› Technology change required for primary steel

› 30% are produced in a climate-friendly manner via the electric steel route

› Around half of primary steel production can be converted to low CO 2 direct reduction

› Up to 23 million tonnes of CO2 can be saved through direct reduction alone (with 100% green hydrogen)

› Natural gas is necessary as a flexibility solution

› Steel production in Germany is 100% based on green hydrogen and green electricity.

› The potential of the circular economy will be fully exploited

› Green steel as a basis for green value chains

Decarbonisation

The steel industry is vital to making Germany a climate-neutral, economically strong location: transition makes the reduction of 30 per cent of all industrial emissions in Germany possible. In order to achieve this, the conventional method of primary steel production, the blast furnace-converter route, must be replaced by hydrogen-based direct reduction. In addition, scrap-based electric steel production is an important component of climate-neutral steel production.

Total greenhouse gas emissions in Germany in 2022: 746 million tonnes of CO2eq

Source: Bundesklimaschutzgesetz, UBA, DEHSt, WV Stahl

Contribution of the steel industry to decarbonisation

A climate-neutral steel industry means 50 to 55 million tonnes less CO2 per year.

This corresponds to approx. 30 per cent of all industrial emissions in Germany.

And approx. 7 per cent of all CO2 emissions in Germany.

Climate

protection impact of hydrogen use in sector comparison

In the steel industry, 28 tonnes of CO 2 can be saved per tonne of climate-neutral hydrogen used – more than in any other sector.

potentials today and 2050 CO2 -Reduction potential per tonne of hydrogen (H 2 )

Source: National Hydrogen Council; calculations by WV Stahl, after obtaining a statement from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT

For every tonne of climate-neutral hydrogen used in steel production, 28 tonnes of CO2 can be saved.

Outlook: Demand for renewable electricity is increasing strongly

With the transition to climate neutrality, the demand for renewable electricity in the steel industry is increasing enormously. Compared to today, where the blast furnace process largely utilises self generated electricity, the hydrogen-based direct reduction (DRI) plants will be dependent on grid electricity in future.

Electricity demand of the steel industry in Germany (in TWh)

Source: WV Stahl

Replacing coal as a raw material with the local factor electricity

Increasing demand for external electricity as a result of further electrification of steel production

Elimination of self-generated electricity from by-product gases from the blast furnace converter process

Indirect electricity demand for the electrolytic production of hydrogen

Specific primary energy consumption

The energy consumption to produce one tonne of steel has been significantly reduced since 1990. Successes were achieved not only on the integrated production route, but also on the electric arc furnace route. One example of further development is the introduction of the ladle furnace, which enables the electric arc furnace to fully utilise the installed capacity for scrap melting and relieves it of metallurgical tasks.

Hot-rolled products and semi-finished products deliveries* in GJ/tonne

-15.1%

Crude steel in GJ/tonne

Specific primary energy consumption per tonne of steel on average for total steel production, aggregating the electric steel and blast furnace converter routes. Without coking plants. -11.4 %

* hot-rolled long and flat products and deliveries of semi-finished products for direct use

Source: WV Stahl

Development of specific energy-related CO2 emissions

Today, significantly less CO 2 is emitted per tonne of steel than 30 years ago. However, this also means that the limits of established production processes have been reached. Thus, in order to achieve climate neutrality, it’s necessary to convert steel production to hydrogen-based processes.

Hot rolled products and semi-finished product deliveries in t CO2 /t Product

Crude steel in t CO2 /t Product

Specific primary energy-related CO2 emissions per tonne on steel average for total steel production, aggregating the electric arc furnace and blast furnace routes. Without coking plants. Indirect CO2 emissions from external electricity procurement are included. -15.1% -11.4 %

Source: WV Stahl

The steel industry in Germany produces around 80 per cent of their transport volumes with ecologically advantageous modes of transport on rail and inland waterways.

Logistics

The steel industry has been relying on climate-friendly modes of transport for decades. About 80 per cent of transport volumes are transported by rail or inland waterways. Due to their high transport volumes, steel-producing companies in Germany are extremely important for both rail freight transport and inland waterway transport.

Source: WV Stahl

Steel foreign trade – Germany

As in previous years, Germany’s trade balance was almost balanced in 2022.

Source: Official foreign trade statistics, WV Stahl * Steel mill products (rolled steel and forged products, pipes, cold-rolled products)

Steel foreign trade – EU-27

(Million tonnes - steel mill products*)

After an extreme increase in imports from third countries to the EU in 2021, a slight decline was recorded in 2022 – but export pressure remained constant.

* Steel mill products (rolled steel and forged products, pipes, cold-rolled products)

Source: Official foreign trade statistics, WV Stahl

Steel exports* to countries outside the EU

Steel from Germany and the EU is most often exported to other European countries. As in the previous year, the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) will again be in second place for German and European exports in 2022.

Europe without EU/CIS

Asia excluding the Near and Middle East

* Exports of Steel mill products (rolled steel and forged products, pipes, cold-rolled products)

Indirect steel foreign trade Trade in steel-containing products*

In 2022, Germany exported 30.3 million tonnes of rolled steel abroad in the form of steel-containing goods, such as cars and machinery. Compared to the previous year, the numbers have decreased slightly.

In 2022, Germany exported around 30 million tonnes of rolled steel in the form of steel-containing goods, such as cars and machines.

Indirect steel exports from Germany by country

The most important buyer countries for Germany’s indirect steel exports are the USA, France and Poland.

Status: 2022

Source: Official foreign trade statistics

Sustainable value creation through steel

Steel production in Germany ranks among the top international sustainability goals. This has a positive impact on downstream industries. As a study by IW Consult shows, the migration of steel would entail considerable sustainability risks for these industries. If, for example, the mechanical engineering industry had to completely replace its steel supplies from Germany with Chinese imports, CO2 emissions in the value chain would increase by 13 million tonnes.

of the consequences of sourcing steel for mechanical engineering from China

Effect on emissions from the upstream value chain of the steel industry

Source: IW Consult

Illustration

Steel can be recycled an infinite number of times and up to 100 per cent.

The circular economy with steel

Saving resources, protecting the environment and climate

Steel is 100 per cent recyclable, without any loss of quality. In Germany alone, the steel industry uses around 20 million tonnes of steel and iron scrap every year to produce new products. A well-functioning steel recycling system has already been established in Germany. For example, the collection rate for structural steel at the end of a building’s life is around 97 per cent. All collected steel is recycled.

Source: WV Stahl

Achieving the circular economy by means of a multi-recycling approach

Steel scrap is almost collected in its entirety throughout the country and then completely recycled. Because there is no degradation in quality, these products can also be recycled – a never-ending story. For example, one tonne of steel can be recycled six times to produce four tonnes of new steel products.

Even with a conservative calculation of only 6 life cycles

Real greenhouse gas potential <1 t CO2eq / t steel

The greenhouse gas potential of steel production decreases with each life cycle.

Source: Prof. Finkbeiner TU Berlin

Slag utilisation –

Production and use of slag

Resource efficiency is a paramount concern for steel companies. By-products such as slag replace primary raw materials and thus help to save resources.

*preliminary figures **Difference between slag production and slag use = movement of stock

Source: FEhS

In Germany in 2022, around 12 million tonnes of slag were processed.

The top 10 crude steel producers in the EU

EU crude steel production (2022): 136.3 million tonnes

Germany accounts for around a quarter of EU steel production – first place ahead of Italy and France.

Status: 2022

Source: EUROFER

The top 10 crude steel producers worldwide

World crude steel production (2022): 1,885.7 million tonnes

Germany is one of the ten largest steel producing countries in the world.

Status: 2022 Source: worldsteel

The global transition is only progressing sluggishly

The problem of coal-based and non-market-driven overcapacities continues to worsen: in 2022, global grey overcapacities of 570 million tonnes were registered – and the trend is rising. At the same time, the hydrogen-based DRI capacity planned for 2030 is only 6 per cent of total global crude steel capacity.

Development of global crude steel capacity and steel demand (in million tonnes)

Source: OECD

Share of DRI capacity planned for 2030 in total primary steel capacity is 6 per cent

DRI capacity planned: ~ 90 million tonnes

~ 90 million tonnes

Total primary steel capacity: ~ 1.5 billion tonnes

Total primary steel capacity: ~ 1.5 billion tonnes

Source: Agora Industrie, Global Energy Monitor and own calculations DRI: Direct Reduced Iron

Studies commissioned by WV Stahl

Dekarbonisierung ohne Deindustrialisierung (Decarbonization without deindustrialization), Center for European Politics, Freiburg/Berlin, 2023

Wertschöpfungskette Stahl: Nachhaltigkeit im internationalen Vergleich (Steel value chain: Sustainability in international comparison), IW Consult, Cologne, 2022

Transformationspfade für die Stahlindustrie in Deutschland (Paths of transition for the steel industry in Germany), Prognos, Munich, 2022

Klimapolitische Herausforderungen der Stahlindustrie in Deutschland (Climate policy challenges facing the steel industry in Germany), Prognos, Freiburg, 2020

Stahl-Kreisläufe (Steel cycles), Stahl als Enabler der Kreislaufwirtschaft aus der Perspektive der Haushalte in Deutschland (Steel as an enabler of the circular economy from the perspective of households in Germany), Fraunhofer IMWS, Halle (Saale), 2019

Potentiale des digitalen Wertschöpfungsnetzes Stahl (Potentials of the digital steel value network), Die Rolle der Stahlindustrie als Enabler der Digitalisierung der deutschen Wirtschaft (The role of the steel industry as an enabler of the digitalisation of the German economy), IW Consult, Cologne, 2017

Volkswirtschaftliche Folgen einer Schwächung der Stahlindustrie in Deutschland (Economic consequences of a weakening of the steel industry in Germany), Prognos, Freiburg, 2016

Die volkswirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Stahlindustrie (The economic importance of the steel industry), Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI), Essen, 2015

Ökobilanz nach ISO 14040/44 für das Multirecycling von Stahl (Life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040/44 for the multi-recycling of steel), TU Berlin, Department of Sustainable Engineering, 2012

The German Steel Association is the political voice of the steel industry in Germany, which has set itself the goal of achieving climate-neutral production by 2045 – and thus saving a third of total industrial CO2 emissions.

The association contributes its expertise to energy and climate policy, economic and trade policy as well as environmental and sustainability policy at federal, state and EU level in accordance with the principles of transparent lobbying. As a member of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the European Steel Association EUROFER and worldsteel, the association focusses on cross-sector, European and international networking and activity.

© Alfred Derks/ Pixabay

Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (German Steel Association)

The management team of the German Steel Association

Bernhard Osburg President (honorary) Chief Executive Officer of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG

Kerstin Maria Rippel, LL.M. Chief Executive Officer

Expertise in the specialist areas

Tobias Aldenhoff Head of Economic and Trade Policy

Head Office

Gerhard Endemann Head of Environmental and Sustainability Policy

Französische Strasse 8, 10117 Berlin

Phone +49 30 232 5546-0 info@wvstahl.de www.stahl-online.de

Dr. Martin Theuringer Managing Director

Roderik Hömann Head of Energy and Climate Policy Press contact: presse@wvstahl.de

Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (German Steel Association)

Head Office

Französische Strasse 8

10117 Berlin, Germany

Phone +49 30 232 5546-0

info@wvstahl.de www.stahl-online.de

Offices

Rue Marie de Bourgogne 58

1000 Brussels

Phone +32 2-8011387

Sohnstraße 65

40237 Dusseldorf

Phone +49 211 6707-0

Status: December 2023