According to the data released by the German Federal Statistical Office on Tuesday, April 7, Germany's steel production dropped by half year on year in March, the sharpest decline since the country's reunification nearly 20 years ago.
Accordingly, German steelmakers produced 1.28 million mt of pig iron and 2.1 million mt of crude steel in March 2009, respectively down by 50.3 percent and 49.8 percent year on year, compared to the March 2008 figures. Compared to February, March raw steel production was down by 17.5 percent, while pig iron production declined by 14.2 percent.
In February, Germany's steel production had fallen by about a third from a year earlier.
Germany, Europe's biggest economy and the world's leading exporter, went into recession in the third quarter of 2008 as the global crisis corroded demand for its products.