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The French steel industry held up well in 2011, but 2012 promises to be a more challenging year with the automotive and construction industries reporting a contraction in activity in Q112, according to BMI’s latest France Metals Report. In 2011France’s crude steel production amounted to 15.78mn tonnes (mnt), a rise of 2.3% year-on-year (y-o-y), which was slightly below the 15.82mn tonnes we had forecast. EAF output, which contributes around a third of steelmaking capacity, led growth with blast furnace production remaining sluggish. EAF production rose by 9.4%, while steel production with blast furnace production declined 1.6%. However, output was still 18% below 2007 levels. Production was supported by household spending and export growth, although these diminished as the year progressed. In the first two months of 2011, crude steel output was up 10.4% y-o-y to 2.66mn tonnes with indications that manufacturing was stabilising, although the automotive and construction industries we...

The Turkish steel industry is being supported by a dynamic economy that made it one of the fastestgrowing in the world in 2011, according to BMI’s latest Turkey Metals Report. Turkish crude steel output totalled 34.1mn tonnes (mnt) in 2011, an increase of 17.6% y-o-y. The Russian-owned MMK Atakas’ cold rolling facility with a 1.2mn tonnes per annum (tpa) continuous pickling line, 750,000tpa reversing mill, 450,000tpa hot dip galvanising unit and 200,000tpa colour coating line reached full capacity by end-2011, providing a major boost to output throughout the year. Consumption has been buoyant, but BMI expects a moderation. In 2011 Turkish steel consumption rose 14.1% y-o-y to 26.9mnt, of which 51% consisted of long steel products used mainly by the construction sector while 49% was accounted for by flat steel products used by the automotive, domestic appliance and machinery sectors. Turkey's long steel products consumption in 2011 increased by 17.7% y-o-y to 13.73mnt while th...