Spanish crude steel production jumps 12% in January, Unesid says

Spain produced about 1.25 million tonnes of crude steel in January 2015, up by 12% year-on-year, Spanish steel association Union de Empresas Siderurgicas (Unesid) said on Thursday January 26.
Crude steel production was also up by 8.7% compared with the average production in the fourth quarter of 2014, and by 5.6% compared with the average production in 2014, Unesid said.
In finished steel production, Unesid published figures for December 2014 which showed a 1.4% fall to 924,000 tonnes, compared with 938,000 tonnes in December 2013.
This was mainly due to a 1.8% drop in carbon steel production, while overall volumes of stainless steel have increased by 2.7% over the same period.
The favourable euro-dollar exchange rate has also boosted exports outside of the eurozone.
Figures for November 2014, updated in January by Unesid, showed that Spanish exports outside the European Union totalled 382,000 tonnes, up by 13% compared with November 2013