Italian crude steel output shrinks 10% in March: Federacciai

ROME (Scrap Monster): The monthly production statistics released by the Italian Steel Producers Association, Federacciai indicates that the country’s crude steel production dropped significantly during the month of March this year. The output declined by nearly 10% during the month, in comparison with the output during March last year.

According to data, crude steel production by the country touched 2 million tonnes in March this year. This is 9.8% lower when compared with 2.2 million tonnes output during the same month a year ago. The output during the month increased when compared with 1.9 million tonnes recorded in February this year.

The cumulative output during the initial three-month period of the year totaled 5.9 million tonnes, 10.2% lower when compared with the output of 6.6 million tonnes recorded during the corresponding three-month period in 2014.

The longs and flats production declined during February this year, Federacciai data shows.

The long products output by Italy during the month totaled 1.018 million tonnes, down 3.4% in comparison with 1.054 million tonnes in Feb ’14. The cumulative output of long products by Italy has dropped by 6.4% during the initial two-month period in 2015. The Jan-Feb ’15 output totaled 1.846 million tonnes as against 1.973 million tonnes during Jan-Feb ’14.

Similarly, production of flats too slowed down during February this year to 843,000 tonnes, dropping by 19.2% when compared with 1.043 million tonnes during Feb ’14. The combined output during January to February this year has dropped by 17.2% year-on-year from 2.156 million tonnes to 1.785 million tonnes.