France reduced steel production by 8.6% y/y in August

In August 2023, French steel enterprises reduced steel production by 8.6% compared to the same month in 2022 – to 800,000 tons. This is evidenced by WorldSteel Association’s data.

On a monthly basis, steel production in France as of July 2023 remained unchanged.

In January-August 2023, French steelmakers produced 6.46 million tons of steel, which is 25.9% less than in the same period last year.

Average monthly steel production in France in January-August was 807.7 thousand tons, while for the same period in 2022 the figure was at the level of 1.09 million tons (-25.9% y/y).

In 2022 France reduced steel production by 26% compared to 2021 – to 12.12 million tons. Thus, the country took 16th place in the global ranking of WorldSteel steel producers.

In general, steel production in the countries of the European Union in August 2023 fell by 4.4% compared to August last year – to 9.1 million tons. In January-August 2023, 85.7 million tons of steel were produced in the EU, which is 9.8% less y/y.

The decline in steel production is likely due to weak demand for finished products, as well as unfavorable price conditions. The high production costs of steelmakers do not allow reducing steel prices to levels that would be favorable for buyers, so the demand for domestic products is low. At the same time, imported steel is in demand thanks to lower prices.

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