The French steel industry recorded a positive start to 2007 as regards apparent steel consumption, according to the relevant January-February figures which have been issued by the French Steel Federation (FFA).
The FFA data indicate that apparent steel consumption in France in the first two months of the current year increased to 2.95 million metric tons, up 10.8 percent on the corresponding period of 2006.
In the period in question, apparent consumption of semi finished steel rose 10.1 percent year on year to 202,000 metric tons, apparent longs consumption climbed 13.6 percent compared to last year to 988,000 metric tons, while the figure for flats increased 9.5 percent to 1.7 million metric tons.
Looking at the month of February alone, the figure for semi finished products increased to 107,000 metric tons, up 13.2 percent compared to February 2006. Longs and flats both rose by 16.1 percent, with respective totals of 494,000 and 896,000 metric tons.