Global crude steel production in December 2014 slightly increased by 0.1 percent year on year, amounting to 133.7 million metric tons, while a 2.45 percent growth 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 72.7 percent, 2.4 percentage points lower compared to December 2013 and 3.7 percentage points lower compared to November 2014.
In the meantime, total global crude steel production in 2014 rose 1.2 percent compared to the previous year, amounting to 1.66 billion metric tons.
In December last year, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 92.1 million mt, up 1.2 percent, with 68.09 million mt produced by China, up 1.5 percent, 9 million mt produced by Japan, down 3.7 percent, 7.07 million mt produced by India, up 2.2 percent, and 5.76 million mt produced by South Korea, down 1.6 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 12.45 million mt of crude steel in December, down by 5.7 percent compared with December 2013. In December 2014, Germany's output was 3.26 million mt, down 5.8 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 1.5 million mt, down 16.9 percent year on year, and France's crude steel output amounted to 1.11 million mt, down 6.3 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.71 million metric tons of crude steel in December 2014, with a 6.3 percent decrease from the same month in 2013.
Iran's crude steel production in December last year amounted to 1.36 million mt, up 0.9 percent compared to December 2013.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 8.42 million mt in December 2014, down 6.3 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.95 million mt, increasing 2.6 percent, and Ukraine producing 1.9 million mt, down 28.5 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in December, crude steel output totaled 9.97 million mt, up 2.2 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.4 million mt and Mexico producing 1.5 million mt, up 3.7 percent and declining by 2.7 percent, respectively, on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in December amounted to 3.6 million mt, up three percent from December 2013, with Brazil's output totaling 2.63 million mt, down one percent year on year.