Despite challenging industry conditions, world steel demand grew by 3.6% during 2013, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) said on Wednesday.
In its World Steel in Figures 2014 report the association also noted that world crude steel production totalled 1.6-billion tonnes for the year, up from 1.56-billion tonnes in 2012, a record high for the industry.
The top steel-producing companies during 2013 were ArcelorMittal, which produced 96.1-million tonnes, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, that produced 50.1-million tonnes and the Hebei Steel Group with production of 45.8-million tonnes.
Further, worldsteel noted that China, Japan and the US were the three largest steel producing countries with production of 779-million tonnes, 110.6-million tonnes and 86.9-million tonnes respectively.
South Africa ranked twenty-first with production of 7.2-million tonnes of crude steel during the year.
Meanwhile, world steel use amounted to 1.48-million for the year. China made up 47.3% of this figure, followed by the rest of Asia at 14.8% and the European Union (EU) at 9.3%.
Africa’s steel consumption made up 2% of the global use, while South Korea, Taiwan, China, the Czech Republic and Japan had the highest apparent steel use per capita.
Further, the worldsteel report noted that China was the greatest steel exporter with total exports of 61.5-million tonnes, while EU countries imported the most at 30.8-million tonnes.
China was also the biggest net exporter of steel at 46.8-million tonnes, followed by Japan and the Ukraine at 37.1-million tonnes and 23-million tonnes respectively.
The US ranked first with regard to net imports at 17.8-million tonnes, followed by Thailand at 14.4-million tonnes and Indonesia at 11.6-million tonnes.