Global steel production slightly up in February, Worldsteel says

Global steel production increased in February by only 0.6% year-on-year, according to data published by the World Steel Assn (Worldsteel) on Friday March 20.

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Crude steel output in the 65 Worldsteel member countries totalled 128 million tonnes over the month.

Production in China was estimated at 65 million tonnes of steel, up by 3.4% year-on-year.

Total crude steel output in Asia in February grew by 2.7% year-on-year to 87.3 million tonnes. India showed a 5.6% year-on-year increase, while production in South Korea and Japan declined by 4.4% and 0.2% year-on-year, respectively.

In the European Union, crude steel production dipped by 1.8% year-on-year over the month to 13.6 million tonnes.

Output in the biggest steel producing countries in the EU showed year-on-year declines in February: by 1.6% in Germany, by 9.7% in Italy, by 4.4% in Spain and in the UK by 4.8%.

However, production in France increased by 3.5% year-on-year over the month.

In Turkey, steel production declined by 12.2% year-on-year during February to 2.4 million tonnes.

Output in Russia showed 5.6% year-on-year growth to 5.7 million tonnes. Steel production in Ukraine was 1.6 million tonnes, down by 33.2% year-on-year.

In the Americas, steel production in February dropped by 7.9% year-on-year to 6.3 million tonnes in the USA, but grew by 2.3% year-on-year to 2.7 million tonnes in Brazil.

According to Worldsteel estimates, the global capacity utilisation rate was 73.4% in February, 1.7 percentage points lower than in the corresponding month in 2014.

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