Global crude steel production in January this year decreased by 0.4 percent year on year to 129.78 million metric tons, while a 0.5 percent increase was observed on month-on-month basis, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
In January this year, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 74.4 percent, 2.5 percentage points lower compared to January 2013 and 0.2 percentage points higher compared to December last year.
In January, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 85.81 million mt, down 1.5 percent, with 61.57 million mt produced by China, down 3.2 percent, 9.40 million mt produced by Japan, up 6.1 percent, and 6.04 million mt produced by South Korea, up 1.9 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 14.41 million mt of crude steel in January, up by 7.3 percent compared with January 2013. In January this year, Germany's output was 3.66 million mt, up 2.2 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.25 million mt, up 27.8 percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output amounted to 1.11 million mt, up 11.1 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.83 million metric tons of crude steel in January this year, with a 0.9 percent decrease from the same month in 2013.
Iran's crude steel production in January this year amounted to 1.35 million mt, up 21.5 percent compared to January 2013.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 9.01 million mt in January this year, down 0.7 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.94 million mt, increasing 4.1 percent, and Ukraine producing 2.49 million mt, down 13.5 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in January, crude steel output totaled 10.06 million mt, down 0.6 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.33 million mt and Mexico producing 1.55 million mt, down 0.5 percent and 0.1 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in January amounted to 3.67 million mt, up by 0.9 percent year on year, with Brazil's output totaling 2.74 million mt, down 1.4 percent year on year.