The World Steel Association has recorded a 5% year-on-year fall in European Union crude steel production in September 2026, even as global output remained nearly unchanged. EU producers made 10.1 million tonnes during the month, compared with 142.4 million tonnes across the 70 countries reporting to worldsteel, whose combined production declined by 0.2%. Germany experienced a particularly sharp monthly comparison, with output of 2.6 million tonnes, down 13% on September last year.
The September figures, released on 23 October, contrast with a much smaller decline over the first nine months. Across January to September, the 70 reporting countries produced 1,367.5 million tonnes of crude steel, 0.7% less than in 2025. EU production of 94.5 million tonnes over the same period was down 0.8%, so the 5% September fall should not be mistaken for the region’s performance across the year.
Germany produced 2.6 million tonnes in September, down 13% on the same month of 2025. Its cumulative January to September total, however, was 26.5 million tonnes, which worldsteel records as 4% higher than a year earlier. Those different reference periods make a marked difference to the picture of German steelmaking: the monthly contraction alone does not establish a sustained nine-month decline.
Asia and Oceania remained by far the largest producing region in September, generating 104 million tonnes, up 0.7% year on year. China alone accounted for 73.6 million tonnes and recorded a marginal 0.1% increase. India produced 13.9 million tonnes, up 1.9%, while Japan reported 6.3 million tonnes, down 0.6%. The regional result reflects this combination of substantial production volumes and different national movements.
China’s longer comparison was weaker than its September result. Its output for January to September reached 724.8 million tonnes, down 2.9% on the prior year, whereas India’s production for the first nine months increased 5.6% to 130 million tonnes. The two figures describe different production trajectories within the same broad region, rather than a uniform change in steelmaking activity.
North America produced 9.3 million tonnes in September, 3.4% more than a year earlier. Within that total, United States output was estimated at 7.2 million tonnes, up 4.3%; the US estimate for the first nine months rose 5.8% to 64.9 million tonnes. Worldsteel also treats Russia’s national production figures as estimates, so the top-ten country comparisons do not all have identical reporting status.
Worldsteel reports the United Kingdom alongside Türkiye and other non-EU European countries, not in its EU 27 category. That grouping made 3.6 million tonnes in September, down 1.4%, while its January to September total increased 4.1% to 33.0 million tonnes. The UK does not appear separately in the association’s September top-ten country table; no UK-specific monthly change can be inferred from this regional aggregate.
Elsewhere, Africa registered 2.2 million tonnes for September, a 10.6% increase, while the Middle East produced 3.6 million tonnes, a fall of 20.4%. South America was broadly stable at 3.5 million tonnes, up 0.2%, and the group covering Russia, other CIS countries and Ukraine recorded 6.1 million tonnes, down 1.9%. Differences in output volume are as important as percentage changes when assessing how much each region contributes to the world total.
The measure captures crude steel at the steelmaking stage, before casting and subsequent rolling or other processing into finished products. Mills may supply different grades and forms to engineering, automotive, construction and other markets, but the production series does not identify demand for individual product categories. Nor does a change in crude steel tonnage show how much of each plant’s installed capacity was utilised.
Crude steel can be produced through blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace routes, or in electric arc furnaces using scrap and other metallic feedstocks. Those routes differ in their energy requirements, raw materials and process economics. Worldsteel’s monthly country tables do not allocate September output by production route, however, so the figures cannot establish whether a particular furnace technology, production stoppage or electricity cost caused the EU decline.
Production and consumption also need to be distinguished. Steel output can enter stock or be exported, while manufacturers can meet orders from imported material even when domestic mills reduce production. The September tables therefore cannot independently establish changes in end-market demand, price, inventories, employment or producer margins. Information about individual steelworks schedules and maintenance would also be needed before attributing a short-term production change to particular operational causes.
Worldsteel’s 70 reporting countries represented approximately 98% of global crude steel production in 2025. That broad coverage makes the series a useful indication of industrial output, although some national figures are estimated and the membership of a regional grouping must be understood before comparison. The September data do not include a causal assessment of why German or EU output fell.
European steelmakers are weighing investment in plant replacement, process electrification and lower-emission routes while managing energy and raw material costs. None of those factors is identified by worldsteel as the explanation for September’s regional decline. Its next monthly report will establish whether the sharper EU and German year-on-year comparisons continued beyond September; separate market and plant data will be required to explain their causes.
