Italy increased steel production by 2.7% y/y in January

Italian metallurgical enterprises increased steel production by 2.7% in January 2025 compared to January 2024, to 1.69 million tons. This is reported by SteelOrbis with reference to data from the Italian Federation of Steelworkers Federacciai.

Compared to the previous month, production volumes increased by 40.9%, mainly due to a low comparison base.

Long products production in January amounted to 862 thousand tons, up 2.7% y/y, and flat products production amounted to 780 thousand tons (-1.9% y/y).

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2024, Italy decreased steel production by 5% compared to 2023, to 20 million tons. In December 2024, Italian steelmakers reduced steel production by 8.8% compared to December 2023 and by 33.4% – to 1.199 million tons.

Long products production for the year amounted to 11.7 million tonnes, down 0.2% compared to 2023, and flat products production amounted to 8.6 million tonnes (-9.7% y/y). Thus, long products output experienced only a slight decline, supported by increased construction activity. At the same time, the weakness of the automotive sector and industry, as well as high volumes of competitive imports (5.58 million tons in January-October 2024), had a negative impact on flat products production.

Overall, steel production in the European Union increased by 2.6% in 2024 compared to 2023 – to 129.5 million tons. Global steel production for the year amounted to 1.84 billion tons, down 0.9% year-on-year.