According to the figures released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in December last year Italian crude steel output rose by 3.1 percent year on year, totaling 1.959 million metric tons.
Italian crude steel output in the whole of 2011 increased by 11.3 percent year on year to 28.662 million metric tons. The comparison with 2008, which is considered the last pre-crisis year, reveals that Italian crude steel output in 2011 was still down 6.29 percent.
Federacciai also released Italy's long and flat steel output data for November last year.
Accordingly, in November Italy's long steel output was down two percent year on year and 9.19 percent month on month, totaling 1.146 million metric tons. On the other hand, in the same month Italian flat steel output amounted to 1.078 million metric tons, decreasing by two percent year on year and by 23.43 percent month on month.
In the first 11 months of 2011, long steel production in Italy reached 12.173 million mt, up 7.3 percent, while domestic flat steel production rose by 17.9 percent to 13.438 million mt, both year on year.