Europe’s leading copper powerhouse sees output decline by a further 3.5% in Q1 2024

According to data recently published by the German WirtschaftsVereinigung Metall (WVMetall), the German Non-Ferrous Metal Association, total production of copper and copper alloy semi-manufactures continued to decline in Q1 2024. Total output of semis fell 3.5% year-on-year to 355kt, from 368kt in the prior year period.  Within this total, copper wire rod production was flat at 170kt, while shipments of other copper and copper alloy (brass mill) products slumped 8% year-on-year to 166kt from 180kt the year before. Output of copper and copper alloy castings rose 8% year-on-year to 19kt from 18kt a year earlier. The German semis industry continues to suffer from an unfavourable combination of weak domestic demand and falling export sales to European and overseas consumers.

Total German production of copper and copper alloy semi-manufactures was 1.319Mt in 2023, which was itself a 7.9% reduction compared to the output of 1.433Mt in 2022. The leading copper and copper alloy fabricators in Germany include, Aurubis, the Wieland Group, Schwermetall, KME, Elcowire and Diehl Metall, amongst others. In May this year, Wieland launched the groundbreaking ceremony for its new €80M copper foundry project at its strategic site of Vohringen in South Germany. "The new plant is an important building block on our way to sustainably closing the material cycle and increasing our global recycling rate to 100% in the near future.", according to Dr. Erwin Mayr, CEO of the Wieland Group.