In March this year, Italian crude steel output decreased by 18.5 percent year on year to 2.201 million metric tons, according to the Italian steel producers association Federacciai. March was the 12th month in a row in which a year-on-year output fall was witnessed and was the sixth month in a row in which the year-on-year percentage decrease was a double-digit figure.
In the first quarter of the current year, total Italian crude steel output amounted to 6.125 million mt, down by more than 1.3 million mt or 17.7 percent compared to the same period of 2012. In the first quarter this year, Italy's crude steel output also indicated negative variations compared to the corresponding periods in 2011 (-12.3 percent) and 2010 (-4.9 percent), while it was up 23.9 percent compared to the first quarter of 2009.