Steel production in July reached the highest level since 2008, according to Puls Biznesu. Clients are buying due to fears of price hikes, and Polish producers are re-gaining market share.

According to analysis from Spotdata.pl, cited by the daily, 940 000 tonnes of steel was produced in July in Poland. The last time such good data was recorded was in the first half of 2008 (in the second half – due to a crisis – production declined to slightly over 400 000 tonnes per month).  “We had expected a summer standstill in July but demand actually significantly picked up. We believe the reason for this was speculative activity – clients were stocking up due to fears of price hikes in the coming months,” Krzysztof Zoła, Cognor Holding’s CFO, told Puls Biznesu.

Higher steel prices are fuelling Cognor Group’s sales. Cognor Holding’s consolidated revenue for the first half of 2017 reached PLN 834 million (+15% y/y), with EBITDA of PLN 73.3 million (+55% y/y) and record operating profit of PLN 53.7 million, up by 84% from the previous year.