According to the figures provided by Italian steelmakers association Federacciai, Italy's crude steel output reached 25.75 million metric tons in 2010, increasing almost by 30 percent compared to 2009. Moreover, the revival of the local iron and steel industry was sharper than the European average: in 2010 EU-27countries produced 172.9 million metric tons of crude steel, posting a growth of 24.6 percent compared to the 2009 output.
Meanwhile, in the first two months of the current year, world raw steel output reached 243.5 million metric tons, increasing by 10.4 percent year on year. In the same period, Italian crude steel production fell narrowly short of 4.4 million metric tons, increasing by 7.4 percent as compared to the first two months of last year.