In April this year, French crude steel production amounted to 1,449,500 metric tons, increasing by 76.4 percent year on year and down 1.77 percent as compared to March this year, according to the data provided by the French Steel Federation (FFA). In March, crude steel production in France had increased by 31.25 percent month on month.
In the given month, steel production in France using electric arc furnaces (EAF) rose 3.2 percent year on year, reaching 477.600 metric tons, down 12.11 percent month on month, while steel production with blast furnace (BF) technology totaled 971,900 metric tons, climbing by 170.8 percent year on year and up 4.26 percent as compared to March.
Meanwhile, in the first four months of 2010, crude steel production in France stood at 5.19 million metric tons, increasing by 38.1 percent as compared with the corresponding period of 2009. In the period in question, production using EAFs declined slightly by 0.8 percent, while BF steel production rose 75.6 percent, reaching 1,828,100 metric tons and 3,360,100 metric tons respectively, both compared to January-April 2009.
The FFA also noted that domestic crude steel production in April was 12.7 percent lower than in April 2008 and that crude steel production in the first four months of the year was 20.6 percent below the January-April 2008 production figures.