Data released by the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) show that global crude steel production rose 11 percent year on year to 101.6 million metric tons in August 2006. China is again the largest steel-producing country with crude steel production of 36.7 million metric tons in August, an increase of 17 percent from a year earlier. Japan's crude steel production rose 4.1 percent year on year to 9.6 million metric tons. Total production in the Asia region amounted to 55.6 million metric tons, an increase of 13.1 percent from a year earlier. Total crude steel production in the European Union was 14.5 million metric tons in August. Germany produced 3.9 million metric tons, Italy 1.8 million metric tons and France 1.2 million metric tons. Brazil's crude steel production rose 6.6 percent year on year to 2.8 million metric tons in August.
Global crude steel production (in thousands of metric tons) August July August %change 8 months 2006 2006 2005 Aug-06/05 2006 2005 %change Other Europe 2.814 2.861 2.632 6.9 22.078 20.000 10.4 EU (15) 12.466 14.359 11.461 8.8 115.242 109.934 4.8 EU (25) 14.491 16.531 13.115 10.5 132.111 124.504 6.1 C.I.S 10.191 10.197 9.285 9.8 79.144 73.967 7.0 N.America 11.136 11.174 10.154 9.7 89.640 83.750 7.0 S.America 4.016 3.941 3.764 6.7 29.681 30.133 -1.5 Africa 1.376 1.402 1.447 -4.9 11.187 11.787 -5.1 MiddleEast 1.217 1.235 1.208 0.8 9.876 9.670 2.1 Asia 55.618 55.279 49.186 13.1 422.433 373.616 13.1 Oceania 780 741 760 2.6 5.825 5.760 1.1 Total 101.640 103.361 91.550 11.0 801.977 733.185 9.4 62 countries