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The world’s largest steel producer, China, manufactured a total of 779 million tonnes in 2013, an increase of 7.5% compared with 2012.
Production in Japan increased by 3.1% to 110.6 million tonnes, while South Korean production fell by 4.4% to 66 million tonnes in 2013.
Production in the 27 EU member states (excluding Croatia, which joined in July 2013) was down by 1.8% in 2013 compared with 2012, to 165.6 million tonnes.
Production in Europe’s largest steel manufacturing nation, Germany, was the same as in 2012 at 42.6 million tonnes, while France increased output marginally by 0.5% to 15.7 million tonnes, and steel production in Spain rose by 0.7% to 13.7 million tonnes.
Meanwhile, Italian steel production fell to 24.1 million tonnes, an 11.7% year-on-year drop, and steel production in Turkey fell by 3.4% to 34.7 million tonnes.
Russia produced 69.4 million tonnes of crude steel in 2013, a 1.5% year-on-year reduction, while Ukraine reported a drop of 0.5% to 32.8 million tonnes.
Steel production in the USA dropped by 2.0% to 87 million tonnes in 2013, while Brazil saw production fall by 1.0% to 34.2 million tonnes.
The average capacity utilisation ratio for Worldsteel’s 65 member countries in 2013 was 78.1% compared with 76.2% in 2012.