According to the latest data regarding crude steel production in France released by the French Steel Federation (FFA), in October this year French crude steel production amounted to 1.310 million metric tons, down 7.2 percent year on year, indicating a year-on-year decrease for the fifth consecutive month.
In October, steel production in France using electric arc furnaces (EAF) decreased by 1.2 percent year on year, amounting to 564,600 mt, while steel production with blast furnace (BF) technology totaled 754,600 mt, down 11.3 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, in the January-October period of the current year, France's crude steel production amounted to 13,363,600 mt, down 0.3 percent compared to the same period last year. In the current year, all the year-to-date French crude steel output figures up to and including January-September had indicated positive variations on year-on-year basis. In January-October, steel production in France using electric arc furnaces (EAF) rose 1.5 percent year on year, reaching 5.257 million mt, while steel production with blast furnace (BF) technology totaled 8.106 million mt, decreasing by 0.5 percent year on year.
The FFA also noted that French domestic crude steel production in the first 10 months of the current year was still 17.5 percent below the January-October 2008 production figure and down 18.9 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2007.