France reduced steel production by 17.4% y/y in 2023

In December, steel production in the country fell to a record low level of 325,000 tons

In 2023, French steelmakers reduced steel production by 17.4% compared to 2022, to 10.01 million tons. This is evidenced by data from the WorldSteel Association.

In December, French steelmakers produced 325 thousand tons of steel, down 76.1% compared to November and 56.8% compared to December 2022. This is a record low after reaching a record high of 1.36 million tons of steel production in November.

The average monthly steel production in France in 2023 amounted to 840.7 thousand tons, while in 2022 the figure was 1.01 million tons (-16.76% y/y).

In 2022, France reduced steel production by 26% compared to 2021, to 12.12 million tons. Thus, the country ranked 16th in the global steel producer ranking by WorldSteel.

In general, steel production in the EU countries in December 2023 increased by 2.7% compared to December 2022 – up to 9.1 million tons. In 2023, the EU produced 126.3 million tons of steel, down 7.4% y/y.

Low steel production last year was due to the weak market conditions that have been observed since the fall of 2022. The European steel industry is facing high production costs at a time when demand for domestic steel products is weak amid a flood of cheaper imported products. In the autumn and winter, many companies limit their capacity to balance supply and demand and stabilize product prices.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, European steelmakers reduced steel production by 10.5% compared to 2021, to 136.7 million tons. Overall, global steel production fell by 4.3% y/y last year – to 1.831 billion tons.