Global crude steel production in February this year increased by 4.1 percent year on year to 126.58 million metric tons, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel). In the given month, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 70.3 percent, up four percentage points compared to February 2016 and up 1.1 percentage point compared to January.
In the January-February period of this year, global crude steel production increased to 264.42 million mt, up 5.8 percent year on year.
In February this year, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 86.21 million mt, up 5.1 percent, with 61.18 million mt produced by China, up 4.6 percent, 8.34 million mt produced by Japan, decreasing by 0.1 percent, 8.11 million mt produced by India, up 8.9 percent, and 5.51 million mt produced by South Korea, rising by 8.3 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 13.28 million mt of crude steel in February, down 0.6 percent year on year. In February, Germany's output was 3.45 million mt, rising by 2.6 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 1.97 million mt, up 1.2 percent year on year, and France's crude steel output amounted to 1.24 million mt, down 5.8 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.74 million metric tons of crude steel in February, with a 15.6 percent increase from February last year. Iran's crude steel production in February amounted to 1.37 million mt, up 1.1 percent year on year. The CIS registered a crude steel output of 8.1 million mt in February, remaining stable on year-on-year basis, with Russia producing 5.58 million mt, decreasing by 0.3 percent, and Ukraine producing 1.9 million mt, down 3.6 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in February, crude steel output totaled 8.97 million mt, remaining stable, with the US producing 6.36 million mt, decreasing by one percent, and Mexico producing 1.53 million mt, up seven percent, all on year-on-year basis. Crude steel output in South America in February amounted to 3.21 million mt, up 1.5 percent from February last year, with Brazil's output totaling 2.57 million mt, increasing by 5.7 percent year on year.