Global steel production continued to show a steady month-on-month increase in September, rising to 107-million tons, the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) reported on Friday.

However, the production was 0,6% lower than that of September 2008.

Worldsteel reported that China's steel production for September had surged by 28,7% to 50,7-million tons. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8,3-million tons of steel in September, down by 18% compared with the same month last year. South Korea showed a decline of 2,4% from September 2008, producing 4,4-million tons of steel last month.

In the EU, Germany's steel production was 3,2-million tons in September, a decrease of 21,7% from September 2008. France produced 1,3-million tons in September 2009, down by 15,3% from the same month a year earlier. Turkey produced 2,1-million tons of steel, which was 1,8% less than that of September 2008.

Production in the US fell sharply by 31,4% to 5,4-million tons.

Total crude steel production in the 66 reporting countries for the first nine months of 2009 was 866-million tons, a 16,4% decrease over the same period of 2008.