Andrés Barceló, general director of the Spanish steelmakers association UNESID, has commented on the performance of domestic steel production and the Spanish steel sector in 2022.
Stating that 2022 was a bad year for the Spanish steel industry due to high energy prices, Mr. Barceló touched on production levels. “In 2022, steel production dropped to basically the same level recorded in 2020, when the pandemic first broke out. Energy prices caused this drop and affected exports, that fell below [domestic] steel sales,” Barceló added.
Barceló also evaluated this year and shared forecasts. “This year has begun where we left off last year. Forecasts do not show optimism and uncertainties are not in favor of industrial activities. However, we strongly believe that the steel industry will improve throughout the year,” he noted.
According to the data released by UNESID, in 2022 Spain’s demand for steel products dropped by four percent year on year to 12.4 million metric tons, while Spanish crude steel production was down by 19.0 percent or 2.6 million metric tons compared to 2021 to 11.5 million metric tons.