Germany produced 4.02 million mt of steel in May 2006, latest information from the country's federal statistics office Destatis showed. The production amount reflects a rise of 9.0% than in May 2005, but a fall of 1.1% on production of April 2006. Seasonally adjusted, the production increased by 0.8% on the month, said the federal office. During the first five months of 2006, Germany produced a total of 19.34 million mt of steel, representing a rise of 0.5% on May 2005.

The steel producers of former west-Germany produced a total of 3.38 million mt of steel in May 2006, a rise of 6.8% on May 2005 and a fall of 2.7% on March 2006. During January-May 2006, steel production fell 1.2% to 16.45 million mt compared with the same period of 2005. The east- German states plus Berlin-East increased their steel production by 22.2% in May 2006 to a total of 0.64 million mt on annual comparison. Compared with April 2006, production increased 8.3%. During the first five months of the year, steel production increased by 11.0% to a total of 2.89 million mt compared with January-May 2005, said Destatis.