According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), in June this year the crude steel output of 62 countries surveyed across the globe reached 127.9 million mt, decreasing by 0.1 percent on year-on-year basis and down 2.04 percent compared to May this year. Total global crude steel production in the first six months of the current year increased slightly by 0.9 percent compared to the same period of 2011, amounting to 766.8 million mt.
In June, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 83.5 million mt, up by 1.44 percent, with 60.2 million mt produced by China, up by 0.6 percent, 9.2 million mt produced by Japan, up by 3.5 percent, and 5.9 million mt produced by South Korea, up by 4.3 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-27 countries produced 14.73 million mt of crude steel in June, down 5.6 percent compared with June 2011. In June this year, Germany's output was 3.72 million mt, down by four percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.42 million mt, down 7.9 percent year on year, Spain's crude steel output was 1.27 million mt, down 8.8 percent year on year, and France's crude steel output was 1.34 million mt, down 2.1 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.9 million metric tons of crude steel in June this year, with a four percent increase over the same month in 2011. Meanwhile, Iran's crude steel production in June this year amounted to 1.2 million mt, while it did not register any crude steel output in June 2011.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 9.26 million mt in June, down 0.1 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.78 million mt, increasing 0.3 percent compared to June 2011, and Ukraine producing 2.87 million mt, up 3.3 percent on year-on-year basis.
In North America in June, crude steel output reached 10.2 million mt, up 2.8 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.3 million mt and Mexico producing 1.6 million mt, up 0.8 percent and 7.9 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in June amounted to 3.76 million mt, down by 8.8 percent year on year, with Brazil's output totaling 2.74 million mt, down by 8.5 percent year on year.
In June this year, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 80.4 percent, increasing from 79.7 percent recorded in May this year, and down 2.5 percentage points compared to the same month last year.