BERLIN: Germany is by far the biggest customer for Dutch-made steel, buying up about 30% of total domestic production in 2017, the statistics office CBS said on Thursday. Belgium is second with 12% of production, followed by France at 9%, Britain at 8% and the US at 6%. Dutch steel exports to the US were worth €570m in 2017, the CBS said. Total steel exports from the Netherlands hit €9bn last year, but part of this is earned from the re-export of steel made elsewhere.
Steel is produced in IJmuiden on the North Sea coast. The plant started out as Hoogovens, then was known as Corus after the ill-fated merger with British Steel and is now Tata Steel Europe. India-based Tata and Germany’s ThyssenKrupp are now in advanced merger talks which would create Euope’s second-largest steel maker after ArcelorMittal of Luxembourg.