In the first seven months of the year, national steel production dropped 5.4% on the year to 12.5 MMt, while the breakdown of finished steel products highlighted a two-speed trend in July output with longs products up on the year but flats products falling.
Long products rose 4.2% on the year to 1 MMt in July and 0.7% to 7.4 MMt in January to July.
In contrast, flat production fell 16.8% to 716,000 metric tons in July, with figures including a decline in production at the second-largest domestic flat producer ADI.
From January to July, flat steel production dropped 10.7% to 5.2 MMt.
In July hot rolled coil values in Italy fell from Eur630 ($696) metric tons per year base ex-work Italy to Eur620/t by the end of the month, and continued to drop in August. In the first seven months, HRC prices lost Eur65/t. On Sept. 3 HRC closed at Eur590/t base ex-works Italy, flat on the day.
Annalisa Villa