France reduced steel production by 13.7% m/m in February

In February 2023, steel enterprises of France reduced steel production by 13.7% compared to January 2023 – to 777 thousand tons. This is evidenced by WorldSteel Association’s data.

On an annual basis, steel production in France decreased by 31.2% as of February 2023.

In January-February 2023, French steelmakers produced 1.58 million tons of steel, which is 24.2% less than in the same period last year.

In 2022 France reduced steel production by 26% compared to 2021 – to 12.12 million tons. Thus, the country took 16th place in the global ranking of WorldSteel steel producers.

In general, steel production in the countries of the European Union in February 2023 fell by 12.6% compared to February last year – to 10.5 million tons. In January-February 2023, 20.7 million tons of steel were produced in the EU, which is 14.3% less y/y.

During the second half of 2022, European steelmakers massively reduced production capacity amid rising electricity tariffs and unfavorable market conditions. At the same time, the European market was filled with imported steel products, which attracted consumers at lower prices than local ones. According to Fastmarkets estimates, at the end of 2022, about 14-15 million tons of annual steel capacities were stopped in Europe.

Already at the end of 2022 – beginning of 2023, EU steelmakers began to restart the stopped capacities, as the apparent demand for steel and product prices began to grow, and the costs of energy resources – decreased and stabilized. In addition, the industry predicts further growth in demand for steel products.

In April 2023, ArcelorMittal plans to restart blast furnace №2 at its plant in Foss-sur-Mer, France. The company suspended one of the French plant’s subsidiaries in December 2022.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022 European steelmakers reduced steel production by 10.5% compared to 2021 – to 136.7 million tons. In general, global steel output last year fell by 4.3% y/y – to 1.831 billion tons.