On Thursday, January 22, the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), formerly the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), announced world crude steel production results for the year 2008.
Accordingly, world crude steel production reached 1,329.7 million mt in 2008, down by 1.2 percent compared to the figure of 1,345.4 million mt in 2007. 2008 is the second consecutive year that world steel production has exceeded 1,300 million mt.
In 2008 steel production declined in almost all the major steel producing countries and regions including the EU, North America, South America and the CIS, while Asia, in particular China and the Middle East showed positive growth during the year.
Also, global steel production has shown an acceleration of negative growth from September to the end of 2008. World crude steel output for December 2008 recorded a decrease of 24.3 percent compared to the same period in 2007.
China, the world's largest steel producing country, produced 502 million mt of crude steel in 2008, an increase of 2.6 percent from the 2007 figure of 489.2 million mt. China's production volume has more than doubled within five years, from 222 million mt in 2002, while China's share of world steel production continued to grow in 2008, producing 38 percent of the total world crude steel output.
Asia produced 770 million mt of crude steel in 2008, 58 percent of the world's total steel production, with 1.9 percent growth over 2007. South Korea and India recorded increases of 3.8 percent to 53.5 million mt and of 3.7 percent to 55.1 million mt respectively, while the world's second-largest steel producing country Japan produced 118 million mt in 2008, a decrease of 1.2 percent compared to 2007.
The EU-27 produced 199 million mt of crude steel in 2008, down 5.3 percent compared to the 2007 figure.
In 2008, steel production in North America also decreased, by 5.5 percent over 2007. The US, the world's third-largest steel producing country, produced 91 million mt of crude steel, down by 6.8 percent compared to 2007.
Overall, the CIS showed a decrease of 8.1 percent in crude steel output in 2008. While Russia produced 69 million mt of crude steel, with a 5.4 percent reduction over 2007, Ukraine recorded a decrease of 13.1 percent year on year, producing 37 million mt.