French crude steel output declines in February

French crude steel production decreased year-on-year in February. This follows a hike in January and a decline in 2019 as a whole, Kallanish learns from data released by the Federation Française de l’Acier (FFA).

Crude steel output declined by -1.3% y-o-y last month to 1.232 million tonnes. This is down from 1.248mt in February 2019, the association says.

Over the first two months of the year however French crude output upticked y-o-y by 0.6% to 1.234m tonnes/month. This is up from 1.227m t/month in January-February 2019, FFA says.

The monthly trend reflects the gradual erosion in recent French steel output. In 2019, output dipped by -6.1% on-year to 1,204,000 t/month. This was down from 1,282,000 t/month in 2018. In 2018 average crude steel production fell by -0.8% to 1,282,000 t/month, down from 1,292,000 t/month in 2017, the FFA says.