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World crude steel production dropped 3% year-on-year to 132-million tons in August, the World Steel Association said on Tuesday.
The biggest contributor to the drop in production – out of the 65 countries reporting to the association – was Turkey, which saw its crude steel production for August fall by 11.8% year-on-year to 2.6-million tons.
Germany’s output, however, increased by 10.7% year-on-year to 3.4-million tons of crude steel.
The world’s biggest steel producer China saw its output fall by 3.5% year-on-year to 66.9-million tons in August, while Japan produced 5.8% less steel, at 8.8-million tons.
France and Italy each produced one-million tons of steel in August, a year-on-year decrease of 1.5% for France, but a 1.3% year-on-year increase for Italy.
Russia produced six-million tons of crude steel, down 3.2% year-on-year, while Ukraine produced 1.9-million tons, up 8.6% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the US produced seven-million tons, a 9.7% year-on-year decrease, while Brazil’s crude steel production for August, at 2.8-million tons, was down 5.4% year-on-year.
In the Middle East, Iran produced 1.2-million tons of crude steel in August, down by 6.2%.
South Africa’s steel production was 21.2% higher year-on-year, at 645 000 t.
The crude steel capacity use ratio for the 65 countries in August was 68% - 3.6 percentage points lower than August 2014. Compared to July, it was 0.4 percentage points lower.