print

The Spanish steel industry

General Overview

In 2009, it became clear that the world was going through the worst economic crisis since the depression in the 1930s. According to data from the National Account Systems, The Spanish GDP contracted by 3.1% over the year, with a quarter-on-quarter decrease of -0.1% in the last quarter,. This figure shows an appreciable moderation in the rate of fall, from the peak of -4.2% year-on-year recorded towards the middle of the year. Even so, the decrease in last quarter was the sixth consecutive quarterly fall in our wealth. Since the start of the crisis in the second quarter of 2008, The Spanish economy has accumulated a Total loss of -4.7%.

The most serious issues affecting our country are unemployment and the public deficit. With 19.5% unemployment and a deficit amounting to 11.4% of the GDP, domestic demand has been greatly weakened and the recovery from the crisis will have to be driven from outside.

Industrial production has been seriously impaired, with a reduction of -15.8% compared to the previous year, and activity in the building sector also fell sharply: apparent cement consumption was down by -32.9% and the number of permits for the construction of new dwellings was 57.1% lower than in 2008.

In this context, the steel industry has followed the same evolution as the other sectors. Apparent consumption slumped, falling by 34% to 11.8 million tonnes. Faced with this situation, the companies sought a solution in exports: the volume of exports to countries outside the European Union increased by 28%, creating a positive trade balance in the steel sector.