According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), in May this year the crude steel output of 64 countries surveyed across the globe reached 129.86 million mt, increasing by 4.2 percent on year-on-year basis. The month-on-month increase was 2.9 percent, from the 126.18 million mt recorded in April. Total global crude steel output from January to May was 629.59 million mt, up by 7.3 percent year on year.
In May, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 82.69 million mt, up by 5.4 percent, with 60.24 million mt produced by China, up by 7.8 percent, 9.04 million mt produced by Japan, down by seven percent, 5.85 million mt produced by South Korea, up by 12.8 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-27 countries produced 16.31 million mt of crude steel in May, down 1.3 percent comparing with May 2010. Germany's output was 4.11 million mt, up by 1.1 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.64 million mt, up 6.9 percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output was 1.55 million mt, down 5.5 percent year on year.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 9.63 million mt in May, up 0.9 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.76 million mt, down by 2.9 percent, and Ukraine producing 3.16 million mt, up 8.9 percent.
In North America in May, crude steel output reached 10.07 million mt, up 1.6 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.27 million mt and Mexico producing 1.58 million mt, up 0.1 percent and 5.6 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in May reached 4.49 million mt, up by 22.7 percent year on year, with Brazil's output reaching 3.27 million mt, up by 14.7 percent year on year.
In the given month, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 81.7 percent, down by 0.6 percentage points month on month, and also down 0.6 percentage points compared to the same month last year.