According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), in March this year the crude steel output of 62 countries surveyed across the globe reached 132.2 million mt, increasing by 1.8 percent on year-on-year basis and up 9.35 percent compared to February this year. Total global crude steel production in the first quarter of the current year stayed almost unchanged compared to the same period of 2011, amounting to 376.7 million mt.
In March, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 85.2 million mt, up by 3.2 percent, with 61.6 million mt produced by China, up by 3.6 percent, 9.3 million mt produced by Japan, up by 2.3 percent, and 6 million mt produced by South Korea, up by 3.2 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis. In the first quarter of the year, Asia's crude steel output remained unchanged year on year, amounting to 241.7 million mt.
EU-27 countries produced 15.7 million mt of crude steel in March, down 3.9 percent compared with March 2011. In March this year, Germany's output was 3.9 million mt, down by 3.1 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.7 million mt, up 4.5 percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output was 1.3 million mt, down 19 percent year on year. In the first quarter of this year, crude steel output in EU-27 countries totaled 43.9 million mt, down 3.9 percent compared to the first quarter of the previous year.
Turkey produced 3.1 million metric tons of crude steel in March this year, with a 14.45 percent increase over the same month in 2011. Meanwhile, Iran's crude steel production in March this year amounted to 1.2 million mt, up 7.7 percent compared to March 2011.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 9.7 million mt in March, down two percent year on year, with Russia producing 6.4 million mt, increasing 6.4 percent compared to March 2011, and Ukraine producing 2.7 million mt, down 14.4 percent on year-on-year basis. In the first three months of this year, the CIS produced 28.1 million mt of crude steel, falling by 0.6 percent compared to the corresponding period of last year.
In North America in March, crude steel output reached 10.6 million mt, up 3.3 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.76 million mt and Mexico producing 1.5 million mt, up 5.4 percent and down 3.6 percent respectively on year-on-year basis. In the first quarter, North America's crude steel output was 31.2 million mt, up 6.9 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in March amounted to 4.2 million mt, up by 0.4 percent year on year, with Brazil's output reaching 3.1 million mt, up by 2.2 percent year on year. In the January-March period, South America produced 11.9 million mt of crude steel, up 1.4 percent compared to the same period last year.
In March this year, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 81.1 percent, up by 1.6 percentage points compared to February this year, and down 1.2 percentage points compared to the same month last year.
The top 10 crude steel producing countries in March 2012 are as follows:
Country | March 2012 | M-o-m change (%) | Y-o-y change (%) | Q1 2012 | Y-o-y change (%) |
China | 61,581 | 10 | 3.6 | 174,097 | 0.3 |
Japan | 9,324 | 7 | 2.3 | 26,567 | -4.1 |
United States | 7,764 | 3 | 5.4 | 23,015 | 8.3 |
Russia | 6,400 | 7 | 6.4 | 18,355 | 5 |
India | 6,200 | 9 | 1.2 | 18,000 | - |
South Korea | 6,019 | 11 | 3.1 | 17,232 | 4 |
Germany | 3,900 | 9 | -3.1 | 10,846 | -4.75 |
Turkey | 3,128 | 13 | 14.45 | 9,025 | 13.7 |
Brazil | 3,105 | 12 | 2.2 | 8,694 | 2.4 |
Ukraine | 2,700 | 8 | -14.4 | 8,082 | 8.1 |
Tonnages (x 1,000 mt)