Global crude steel output swells 5.9% in March
According to data published by International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), global crude steel production amounted to 85.9 million mts in March, up by 5.9% compared to March 2003. In the first three months of 2004, production rose to 247.7 million mts, indicating an increase of 8.7% compared to corresponding period of last year. China again indicated a significant growth in March with production of 21.8 million mts of crude steel. This figure was 23.1% higher than the 19.7 million mts recorded in March 2003. Year-to-date production was also up by 26.4% to 61.5 million mts. Total production in Asia reached 39.4 million mts in March, up by 11.3% compared to the same period of last year. CIS produced 9.6 million mts of crude steel in March. Russian crude steel production soared by 5.2% to 5.4 million mts in March. Crude steel production in India showed a slight drop of 0.6% in March. However, crude steel production reached 8.2 million mts in the first three months of 2004, up by 6.2%. Turkey's crude steel production is recorded as 1.8 million mts in March with an increase of 12.6% compared to the same period of last year. Year-to-date production was also up by 10.3% to 4.96 million mts.
March February March %change 3 months
2004 2004 2003 Mar-04/03 2004 2003 %change
Other
Europe 2.385 2.056 2.205 8.2 6.732 6.155 9.4
EU (15) 14.669 13.436 14.936 -1.8 41.754 40.888 2.1
EU (25) 16.836 15.406 16.885 -0.3 47.964 46.425 3.3
C.I.S 9.623 8.769 8.825 9.0 27.675 25.132 10.1
N.America 10.700 10.112 10.975 -2.5 31.249 31.418 -0.5
S.America 3.807 3.605 3.717 2.4 11.108 10.251 8.4
Africa 1.301 1.284 1.404 -7.4 3.937 4.026 -2.2
MiddleEast 1.088 1.100 1.033 5.3 3.270 3.126 4.6
Asia 39.413 36.692 35.426 11.3 113.593 99.275 14.4
Ocenia 753 687 674 11.7 2.172 2.037 6.6
Total 62 85.905 79.712 81.144 5.9 247.699 227.845 8.7
countries