In April this year, French crude steel production amounted to 1,445,900 metric tons, decreasing by 0.4 percent year on year and up 1.37 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 risen by 19.81 percent compared to February this year.
In April, steel production in France using electric arc furnaces (EAF) rose 22.3 percent year on year, reaching 585,000 metric tons, while steel production with blast furnace (BF) technology totaled 860,200 metric tons, declining by 11.5 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, in the first four months of 2011, crude steel production in France stood at 5,282,700 million metric tons, increasing by 1.8 percent as compared with the corresponding period of 2010. In the period in question, production using EAFs increased by 14 percent, while BF steel production fell 4.8 percent, reaching 2,085,000 metric tons and 3,197,700 metric tons respectively, both compared to January-April 2010.
The FFA also noted that domestic crude steel production in April this year was 13 percent lower than in April 2008 and that crude steel production in the first four months of the year was 19.1 percent below the January-March 2008 production figures.