Global crude steel output data for March
Data released by the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) show that global crude steel production amounted to 92.9 million metric tons in March 2005, up 6.5% year on year. For the first three months of the year, global crude steel production rose 6.6% year on year to 267.2 million metric tons. China produced 27.5 million metric tons of crude steel in March, up 24.1% on the same month in 2004. Total production for the Asian region was 46 million metric tons, a rise of 15.2% on March 2004. Production in the 25 member states of European Union totaled 16.4 million metric tons in March. Italy saw a 6.3% increase in crude steel production. In North America production reached 11 million metric tons at the end of March, a fall of 3.1% compared to the same period last year.Global crude steel production (in thousands of metric tons) March February March %change 3 months 2005 2005 2004 Mar-05/04 2005 2004 %change Other Europe 2.380 2.132 2.489 -4.4 6.829 6.942 -1.6 EU (15) 14.340 13.189 14.669 -2.2 41.959 41.859 0.2 EU (25) 16.404 15.069 16.859 -2.7 47.962 48.129 -0.3 C.I.S 9.715 8.368 9.623 1.0 27.619 27.668 -0.2 N.America 11.004 10.259 11.358 -3.1 32.419 32.324 0.3 S.America 3.920 3.645 3.862 1.5 11.212 11.176 0.3 Africa 1.518 1.378 1.279 18.7 4.338 3.914 10.8 MiddleEast 1.223 1.193 1.088 12.5 3.578 3.270 9.4 Asia 45.969 41.285 39.894 15.2 131.115 115.175 13.8 Ocenia 726 668 758 -4.3 2.130 2.187 -2.5 Total 61 92.859 83.997 87.210 6.5 267.202 250.786 6.5 countries