Global crude steel production in February this year increased by 0.6 percent year on year, amounting to 128 million metric tons, while a decrease of 3.8 percent was observed on month-on-month basis, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel). In the given month, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 73.4 percent, 1.7 percentage points lower compared to February 2014 and 3.8 percentage points lower compared to the previous month.
In January-February period of this year, global crude steel production decreased to 261.41 million mt, down 1.3 percent year on year.
In February this year, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 87.26 million mt, up 2.7 percent, with 65.03 million mt produced by China, up 3.4 percent, 8.43 million mt produced by Japan, down 0.2 percent, 6.91 million mt produced by India, up 5.6 percent, and 5.1 million mt produced by South Korea, down 4.4 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 13.62 million mt of crude steel in February, down by 1.8 percent year on year. In February, Germany's output was 3.51 million mt, down 1.6 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 1.97 million mt, declining by 9.7 percent year on year, and France's crude steel output amounted to 1.28 million mt, up 3.5 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.39 million metric tons of crude steel in February, with a 12.2 percent decrease from the same month in 2014. Iran's crude steel production in February this year amounted to 1.41 million mt, up 11.8 percent year on year. The CIS registered a crude steel output of 7.83 million mt in February of the current year, down six percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.74 million mt, increasing 5.6 percent, and Ukraine producing 1.59 million mt, down 33.2 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in February, crude steel output totaled 8.85 million mt, down 6.8 percent year on year, with the US producing 6.26 million mt and Mexico producing 1.46 million mt, down 7.9 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, on year-on-year basis. Crude steel output in South America in February amounted to 3.51 million mt, up 2.6 percent from February 2014, with Brazil's output totaling 2.68 million mt, increasing by 2.3 percent year on year.