Photo by: Duane Daws
Global crude steel production for the 65 countries reporting to worldsteel remained relatively flat in February, increasing by a marginal 0.6% year-on-year to 125-million tonnes.
South Africa, however, increased its crude steel output year-on-year by an impressive 19.3% to an estimated 555 000 t from 465 000 t in January 2013.
China’s crude steel production for the month was estimated at 62.1-million tonnes, while, elsewhere in Asia, Japan increased its year-on-year output by 1.4% to 8.4-million tonnes and South Korea’s crude steel production rallied by 6.2% to 5.3-million tonnes.
In the European Union, Germany produced 3.6-million tonnes of crude steel in February, an increase of 4.2% on the prior year’s comparable month, while Italy lifted its production by 3.6% to 2.2-million tonnes over the same period.
France, meanwhile, narrowed its year-on-year steel production by 3.9% to 1.2-million tonnes in February, contrasting sharply with Spain’s output, which increased by a substantial 10.2% year-on-year to 1.2-million tonnes.
Turkey’s production for February, at 2.7-million tonnes, remained largely flat, while Russia produced 5.3-million tonnes of crude steel – a decrease of 3.1% compared with the same month in 2013.
Ukraine narrowed its production of steel by a sharp 10.7% to 2.3-million tonnes in February.
Meanwhile, the US produced 6.7-million tonnes of steel in February, down by 1.7% on the prior year’s comparable period, while Brazil’s output increased over the same period by 1.2% to 2.6-million tonnes.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries in February was 77.6% – 2 percentage points lower than that of February 2013.