World crude steel production in October this year increased by 6.6 percent year on year to 134.26 million metric tons, while 1.29 percent growth was observed on month-on-month basis, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
In October this year, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 77.5 percent, 2.5 percentage points higher compared to October 2012 and 1.8 percentage points lower compared to September of the current year.
In the meantime, total global crude steel production in the first 10 months of the current year rose 3.2 percent compared to the same period of 2012, totaling 1.32 billion metric tons.
In October, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 88.99 million mt, up eight percent, with 65.08 million mt produced by China, up 9.2 percent, 9.52 million mt produced by Japan, up 7.7 percent, and 5.92 million mt produced by South Korea, up 5.2 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-27 countries produced 14.70 million mt of crude steel in October, up by four percent compared with October 2012. In October this year, Germany's output was 3.76 million mt, up 1.9 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.22 million mt, down 10.1 percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output amounted to 1.60 million mt, up 23.9 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 3.08 million metric tons of crude steel in October this year, with a 6.9 percent increase from the same month in 2012.
Iran's crude steel production in October this year amounted to 1.38 million mt, up 18.2 percent compared to October 2012.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 8.88 million mt in October, down 0.8 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.67 million mt, decreasing 1.5 percent, and Ukraine producing 2.63 million mt, up 1.2 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in October, crude steel output totaled 10.19 million mt, up 6.6 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.39 million mt and Mexico producing 1.57 million mt, up 8.7 percent and 1.7 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in October amounted to 4.09 million mt, down by 0.8 percent year on year, with Brazil's output totaling 3.02 million mt, down 2.8 percent year on year.