Bar production in Italy has reached a multi-year low: Federacciai
Long products remained the most stable component of the Italian steel industry in 2024, with overall production unchanged at 11.7 million tonnes, just 0.2% lower than the previous year. This accounted for 57.6% of national steel production, according to the annual report of the Italian steelworkers' association Federacciai, obtained by Kallanish.
However, the indicators in different categories of long products differed. The share of rebars and beams increased, wire rod as a whole remained at the same level, while long products showed the weakest result. The production of rolled products fell to 3.1 million tons, which is 7.2% less than last year.
The largest increase in absolute terms was observed in rebar, which increased to 2.8 million tons, or by 4.8%. The production of beams and structural steel also increased, reaching 849,000 tons, which is 7.6% more than in 2023. Wire rod production resumed growth after a two-year decline, totaling 4.9 million tons, an increase of 0.5%.
Against this background, total steel production in Italy continued to decline last year. The volume of production in the country decreased for the third year in a row to just over 20 million tons, which is 964,000 tons or 4.5% less than in 2023. The Federacciai report said that the reduction was largely due to the continued decline in prices for hot-rolled flat products.
In 2024, the production volume of hot-rolled flat products decreased sharply not only compared to the previous year, but also compared to the volumes observed over the past two decades, reaching a new historical low. The production of hot-rolled flat products decreased by 9.8% compared to 2023 and amounted to 8.6 million tons. The volume of hot-rolled rolled products decreased to 6.2 million tons, which is 8.7% less than last year, while the volume of flat rolled products and other flat rolled products decreased to 2.4 million tons, which is 12.5% less than last year.
Natalia Capra France
kallanish.com