Duisburg, November 28, 2025. In 2024, approximately 19.6 million tons of blast furnace slag (BFS) and 16.5 million tons of steel slag (SMS) were produced in the European Union. Additional extraction of temporarily stored blast furnace slag made a total of around 38 million tons of ferrous slag available. Of this, 35 million tons, or 92 percent, was used as building materials and fertilizers, as well as in other applications. This prevented the extraction of 40 million tons of natural rock and the emission of 11,4 million tons of CO2 across Europe. Between 2000 and 2024, this will amount to a total of 1.21 billion tons of natural rock and 319 million tons of CO2.
In 2024, 21.5 million tons of BFS were used in their entirety: 20.0 granulated blast furnace slag was used in cement and 1.5 as aggregate in concrete and road construction. Of the 16.5 million tons of SWS, 9.0 were used in road construction, 2.0 in building construction, 0.8 in fertilizers, 1.6 for metallurgical work, and 0.1 for other applications. That is a total of 13.5 million tons, or 82 percent.
Thomas Reiche, Chairman of EUROSLAG and Managing Director of FEhS Building Materials Institute: "The current figures show that even in a difficult global political and economic environment, ferrous slag makes an important contribution to resource conservation, climate protection, and the circular economy. EUROSLAG will continue to work at all levels to intensify practice-oriented research and adapt national and European regulations. This will ensure that the by-products of the steel industry can continue to be used extensively as valuable secondary raw materials in various industries in the future."
About EUROSLAG
EUROSLAG, the European Association of ferrous slag producers and processors, is based in Duisburg and brings together 26 organizations and companies from 17 countries, including the FEhS Institute . As a European network for the production, use and development of ferrous slags and slag-based products, EUROSLAG's activities focus on research and technology, European standardization, and internal and external communication. Every two years, EUROSLAG organizes together with national partners the slag conference of the same name.
About the FEhS Institute
For more than seven decades, the FEhS Building Materials Institute has been Europe's leading address for research, testing and consulting on building materials and fertilizers made from ferrous and steel slags. As a modern service provider, the experts are a sought-after partner for member companies and customers from all over the world with seven laboratories, the KompetenzForum Bau and a network of industry associations, authorities, standardization bodies and institutions from science and research.
Photo: Dumping of ferrous slag_Photo Michael Wieschke (c) FEhS Building Materials Institute
Note: The CO2 savings potential was calculated based on the assumption of an allocation value for granulated blast furnace slag (= allocation from the blast furnace process) of 100 kg CO2 per ton of granulated blast furnace slag, as agreed in 2024 in the Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS). The reference value for Portland cement clinker was set at 800 kg CO2 per ton of clinker.
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