Duisburg, September 17, 2026. In 2025, approximately 17.8 million tons of blast furnace slag (BFS) and 16.8 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 36,1 million tons of ferrous slag available. Of this, 31,9 million tons, or 88 percent, was used as building materials and fertilizers, as well as in other applications. This prevented the extraction of 38 million tons of natural rock and the emission of 11 million tons of CO2 across Europe. Between 2000 and 2025, this will amount to a total of 1.25 billion tons of natural rock and 330 million tons of CO2.
In 2025, 19.3 million tons of BFS were used in their entirety: 17.5 granulated blast furnace slag was used in cement and 1.8 as aggregate in concrete and road construction. Of the 16.8 million tons of SWS, 8.6 were used in road construction, 1.3 in building construction, 0.9 in fertilizers, and 1.8 for metallurgical work. That is a total of 12.6 million tons, or 75 percent.
Thomas Reiche, Chairman of the Board of EUROSLAG and Managing Director of FEhS Building Materials Institute: “Last year, ferrous slag once again made an enormous contribution to resource conservation, climate protection, and the circular economy in Europe. And this was achieved despite major political and economic challenges. EUROSLAG will continue to advocate for the by-products of the steel industry to be utilized as valuable secondary raw materials, even in a transformed industry. To achieve this, we need adequately funded, practice-oriented research as well as optimized national and European regulations. Examples include the EU’s Public Procurement Act and Circular Economy Act.”
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.