BERLIN -- Germany, Europe's biggest crude steel maker, is set to produce less this year than in 2012 amid a struggling world market, its steel federation announced on Friday, lowering its forecast.
Steel production is expected "in all probability" to fall 1% in 2013 from last year, to 42.2 million tons, the WVS federation said.
That figure is slightly below its earlier forecast of 43 million tons announced at the start of the year.
It also said steel production in Germany, which is also the seventh biggest producer of crude steel in the world, saw a 5.4% drop in July compared to 2012, its sixth fall in a row.
The latest forecast is based on the steel market stabilizing in the second half of the year, the federation added.
Last week Germany's second biggest steel producer Salzgitter issued a results warning for this year, citing a somber outlook for the market and a structural crisis in the European sector resulting mainly from recession having hit some countries.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013
