In May this year, French crude steel production amounted to 1,573,850 metric tons, increasing by 58.6 percent year on year and up 8.58 percent as compared to April this year, according to the data provided by the French Steel Federation (FFA). In April, crude steel production in France had regressed by 1.77 percent month on month.
In the given month, steel production in France using electric arc furnaces (EAF) rose 17.1 percent year on year, reaching 542,000 metric tons, up 13.48 percent month on month, while steel production with blast furnace (BF) technology totaled 1,031,850 metric tons, climbing by 94.9 percent year on year and up 6.17 percent as compared to April.
Meanwhile, in the first five months of 2010, crude steel production in France stood at 6.76 million metric tons, increasing by 42.4 percent as compared with the corresponding period of 2009. In the period in question, production using EAFs increased by 2.8 percent, while BF steel production rose 79.8 percent, reaching 2,371,300 metric tons and 4,391,900 metric tons respectively, both compared to January-May 2009.
The FFA also noted that domestic crude steel production in May was 6.9 percent lower than in May 2008 and that crude steel production in the first five months of the year was 17.7 percent below the January-May 2008 production figures.