Global steel production, as reported by the 66 member countries to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) fell by 0.1% year-on-year to 139-million tonnes in May.
China produced 70.5-million tonnes of steel in May, a 1.8% increase compared with that produced in May 2015.
Japan’s output fell by 0.9% year-on-year to 8.8-million tonnes in May, while India’s steel production increased by 4.9% year-on-year to 8-million tonnes in May.
Russia produced six-million tonnes of steel in May, a 0.4% year-on-year increase, while production in the US fell by 0.4% year-on-year to 6.8-million tonnes.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 66 countries was 71.3% in May, one percentage point lower than in May 2015 and 0.1 percentage point lower than in April 2016.