Steel production in Germany collapses: Industry in the crisis!

Steel production in Germany collapses: Industry in the crisis!

Steel production in Germany has experienced a worrying decline. In the first half of 2025, raw steel production fell by almost 12 percent to just 17.1 million tons. These alarming numbers were announced by the Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl in Berlin. The general manager Kerstin Maria Rippel made it clear that companies suffer from a weak domestic demand, especially from the important industries of construction, mechanical engineering and automotive industry.

The current situation is particularly tense. A comparison of the production numbers clearly shows the extent of this decline. While production dropped by 5 percent in 2022 and recorded a recovery by 4.5 percent in 2024, Germany now ends up at the level of production of the financial market crisis 2009. According to yahoo finance The hard competitive conditions from abroad and the economic weakness

political measures required

Kerstin Maria Rippel called for a top meeting of the steel company leaders with political representatives. The industry urgently needs effective measures, including European trade protection and competitive electricity prices. The high energy prices also add the steel industry because this suffers competitiveness. Rippel insists on a rapid reduction in the transmission network charges to improve the situation.

also affected by this crisis is Thyssenkrupp Steel Europa, which is fighting and planning to reduce the number of employees from 27,000 by 2030 to only 16,000. In order to achieve this, production capacities are to be reduced, places can be reduced and an agreement with the IG Metall is brought about to a savings plan that reduces the income of the employees by an average of 8 percent. According to wvstahl this is not the first decline in the industry: in May 2025 the production was around 3 million tons, which corresponds to a decrease of 6.4 percent compared to the same month.

long -term perspectives

The current decline in raw steel production shows the challenges that the industrial location is facing Germany. The problems are complex and the pressure on German steel companies grows because they suffer not only from domestic but also from international competitive conditions. In the global perspective, the world steel association forecast a slight recovery of global steel demand by about 1 percent in the coming year. However, even this recovery could be difficult for the German producers if not soon taken measures to stabilize and promote the industry.