Italy increased steel production by 5.9% y/y in January

Italian steelmakers increased steel production by 5.9% in January 2024 compared to January 2023, to 1.64 million tons. This is reported by SteelOrbis with reference to data from the Italian Federation of Steelworkers Federacciai.

Compared to December 2023, steel production in Italy increased by 24%.

Production of long products for the month increased by 9.9% compared to January 2023 and 21.2% compared to December – to 841 thousand tons. Flat products output amounted to 792 thousand tons, up 5% y/y and 28.8% m/m.

In 2023, Italian steelmakers reduced steel production by 2.5% compared to 2022, to 21.06 million tons. The decline in steel production was driven by a decline in global demand for steel products and high energy costs.

Long products production for the year amounted to 11.68 million tons, down 2.9% compared to 2022, and flat products production amounted to 9.54 million tons (-0.1% y/y).

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

The European Commission recently approved a €550 million Italian scheme to support investments in the use of hydrogen in industrial processes. The Italian government will provide this support to industries that are difficult to decarbonize from a technological and economic point of view, such as steel, paper, glass, and others. The funds will be available until the end of 2025 and will be used to replace fossil fuels with green hydrogen.