Italy reduced steel production by 7.3% y/y in February

In February 2023, Italian steel enterprises reduced the volume of production of unrefined steel by 7.3% compared to the same month of 2022 – to 1.896 million tons. SteelOrbis informs about it with the reference to data from the Italian association of steel producers Federacciai.

Compared to January 2023, Italian steelmakers increased steel production by 22.2% in February.

The production of flat rolled products in the country in February 2023 decreased by 10.7% compared to the same month in February 2022 – to 805 thousand tons. The production of rolled products amounted to 1.12 million tons, which is 7.1% less year-on-year.

In January-February 2023, Italy reduced steel production by 10.8% compared to the same period in 2022 – to 3.448 million tons.

As GMK Center reported earlier, steel enterprises of Italy in 2022 reduced steel production by 11.5% compared to the same period of the previous year – to 21.6 million tons. In 2022, the production of rolled products in the country decreased by 12% y/y – to 12.03 million tons, flat rolled products – by 13.8% y/y, to 9.55 million tons.

According to the WorldSteel association, steel production in the EU countries in 2022 decreased by 10.5% year-on-year – to 136.7 million tons. In general, steel production in the world fell by 4.3% y/y – to 1.83 billion tons. During the past year, the situation in European steel industry was affected by such factors as high prices for energy resources, high volatility of prices and demand, and a decrease in steel exports from the EU. They were partly caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

At the same time, from the beginning of 2023, the situation in the industry is improving. Demand for steel began to grow, and energy prices stabilized. This allowed producers to raise product prices and start restoring suspended capacity. The indicators of the industry are still far from last year’s, but the monthly dynamics of steel production is gradually increasing.