Following several months of increasing output, Italian crude steel production fell for the first time in July, Kallanish learns from a note by industry association Federacciai.
Federacciai says output fell by 1.8% on-year to almost 1.7 million tonnes in July but increased by 2.8% on-year to 13.1mt in the first seven months of the year.
“The expansion phase in long rolled products comes to an end, with output falling 7.8% year-on-year in July after 12 consecutive months of growth … In the January-July cumulative period, the segment nonetheless remains 6% ahead,” the association states in a note.
July longs output fell to 1mt but still increased in January-July to 8mt. Flat steel output increased by 4.5% to 772,000t in July but fell by 4.3% to 5.3mt in January-July.
A market source says that considering the current market performance, he expects flats production to start increasing possibly from next month, as buyers will return to purchasing in Europe due to the recent CBAM and quotas measures. Longs production, however, may be challenged by EU post-Covid recovery fund-driven infrastructure projects concluding this year. Another factor is the slowdown of the private residential sector in many central and southern European countries.
