On Wednesday, May 20, the World Steel Association (worldsteel), formerly the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), announced world crude steel production results for April 2009.
Accordingly, world crude steel production for the 66 countries surveyed was 89 million mt in April, down by 23.6 percent year on year.
In April 2009, China's crude steel production was 43.4 million mt, 3.9 percent lower than in April 2008. Japan produced 5.7 million mt of crude steel in April 2009, down by 43.6 percent compared to the same month last year, while South Korea showed a decrease of 10.5 percent from April 2008, producing 4.1 million mt of crude steel.
In the EU, Germany's crude steel production was 1.9 million mt in April 2009, a decrease of 53.1 percent from April 2008. Spain produced 1.2 million mt of crude steel in April 2009, 38.2 percent less than the same month last year. France showed a decrease of 50.5 percent compared to April 2008, producing 0.8 million mt in April 2009.
The US produced 3.9 million mt of crude steel in April 2009, a decrease of 53.4 percent compared to the same month last year, while Brazil produced 1.7 million mt of crude steel in April 2009, 40.4 percent lower than in April 2008.
Turkey produced 2.0 million mt of crude steel in April 2009, 13.4 percent down from April 2008.
Iran produced 0.9 million mt crude steel in April 2009, 3.2 percent more than in April 2008.
In addition, world crude steel production for the first four months of 2009 was 354 million mt, a 22.7 percent decrease over the same period of 2008. Asia produced 231 million mt of crude steel, a decline of 9.5 percent over the first four months of 2008. The EU produced 40 million mt of steel from January to April 2009, down by 44.2 percent compared to the same months of 2008. North America showed a 48.5 percent decline, producing 23.5 million mt during the first four months of 2009.
China produced 171 million mt of crude steel for the first four months of 2009, a slight increase of 0.1 percent, while all the other major steel producing countries showed a decrease for the first four months of 2009.