Global steel production up 0.6% year-on-year, Worldsteel reports

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This compared with 124.3 million tonnes in the corresponding month in 2013, the group added.

China, the biggest producer globally, increased its output by 0.4% year-on-year to 62.1 million tonnes, while Japan’s output went up by 1.4% to 8.4 million tonnes.

South Korean crude steel output was also up by 6.2% year-on-year to 5.3 million tonnes, compared with 4.98 million tonnes in February 2013, but production in India fell by 3.2% year-on-year to 6.28 million tonnes.

In Europe, total crude steel production was up by 4.7% during the month to 13.88 million tonnes, with output by the largest producer nation, Germany, up by 4.2% year-on-year to 3.56 million tonnes.

Italy reported a 3.6% year-on-year rise in steel production to 2.2 million tonnes, while in Spain production was up by 10.2% to 1.19 million tonnes.

French crude steel production, however, fell by 3.9% year-on-year to 1.29 million tonnes in February this year.

In Turkey, crude steel output for the year amounted to 2.67 million tonnes, a 0.7% year-on-year rise.

In South America, although overall production fell by 2.6% year-on-year, crude steel output in Brazil was up by 1.2% to 2.61 million tonnes.

North American steel output was down by 2.7% year-on-year, with the USA showing a 1.7% decrease compared with February 2013 to 6.69 million tonnes.

Russia produced 5.34 million tonnes of crude steel last month, a 3.1% year-on-year reduction.

Within the CIS region, Ukraine’s output saw a sharp 10.7% drop in February to 2.35 million tonnes.

The biggest producer in the Middle East-North Africa region, Iran, saw an increase of 5.1% in output, to 1.26 million tonnes.

Capacity utilisation for the 65 countries that are members of Worldsteel increased to 77.6% in February 2014, up by 0.7% from January 2014.