According to the preliminary data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) on March 22, world crude steel production in February this year amounted to 107.54 million metric tons, increasing by 24.2 percent year on year and down 5.2 percent compared to the revised January 2010 output volume.
Compared to the same month in 2009, February 2010 crude steel production showed a continued increase in all the major steel producing countries.
In the month in question, the world crude steel capacity utilization ratio of the 66 countries surveyed was 79.8 percent, the highest level since September 2008. Compared to February 2009, the utilization ratio in February 2010 increased by 12.0 percentage points.
In February, China's crude steel production totaled 50.36 million metric tons, an increase of 22.5 percent, while Japan produced 8.44 million metric tons of crude steel, up 54 percent, both compared to the same month last year. South Korea showed an increase of 25 percent from February 2009, producing 3.94 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2010. India, on the other hand, produced 4.9 million metric tons of crude steel, up 5.3 percent year on year.
In the EU, Germany's crude steel production for February 2010 was 3.42 million metric tons, with an increase of 34.3 percent compared to February 2009. In February this year, Spain produced 1.34 million metric tons of crude steel - up 35.8 percent, France's crude steel output was 1.13 million metric tons - up ten percent, and Italy's crude steel production totaled 2.16 million metric tons - up 28.5 percent, all compared to the same month last year.
Turkey produced 1.82 million metric tons of crude steel in February this year, with a 1.6 percent increase over the same month in 2009, while Iran's crude steel output rose by 3.3 percent year on year, reaching one million metric tons.
In the given month, the US produced 5.98 million metric tons of crude steel, with an increase of 51.3 percent compared to February 2009.
Brazilian crude steel production stood at 2.45 million metric tons in February this year, 47.9 percent higher than February 2009.
In the second month of 2010, Russia produced 4.69 million metric tons of crude steel, up 8.3 percent year on year, while Ukraine's crude steel production for February 2010 was 2.57 million metric tons, 10.7 percent higher than the same month last year.
