After several months of growth, crude steel production in Italy declined for the first time in July, according to a report from the Federacciai industry association.
According to the organization, steel output decreased by 1.8% year—on-year to almost 1.7 million tons. At the same time, in the first seven months of this year, production increased by 2.8% and reached 13.1 million tons.
The association noted that the stage of expanding the production of long products is coming to an end: in July, production in this segment fell by 7.8% compared to the same month last year after 12 months of continuous growth. In total, for January-July, the indicator still remains 6% higher than last year's level.
Production of long-rolled products decreased to 1 million tons in July, but increased to 8 million tons in January-July. On the contrary, the production of flat rolled products increased by 4.5% and amounted to 772 thousand tons in July, but in seven months decreased by 4.3% to 5.3 million tons.
According to a market source, given the current dynamics, he expects the output of flat rolled products to start growing, possibly as early as next month, as buyers may return to purchasing in Europe amid recent CBAM measures and quotas.
At the same time, the production of long-rolled products may face difficulties due to the completion this year of EU infrastructure projects for post-pandemic recovery, funded from the recovery fund. An additional factor is the slowdown in the growth of private housing construction in many countries of Central and Southern Europe.