On January 22, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) announced world crude steel production results for December 2009 and for the whole of 2009.
World crude steel production reached 1.22 billion metric tons for 2009. This is a decrease of eight percent compared to 2008.
According to the worldsteel report, world crude steel output declined in nearly all the major steel producing countries and regions including the EU, North America, South America and the CIS in 2009. However, Asia, in particular China and India, and the Middle East showed positive growth in 2009.
In December 2009, world crude steel output for the 66 countries surveyed was 106.4 million mt, with an increase of 30.2 percent compared to December 2008. Most major steel producing countries showed two-digit growth in December 2009, due to base effect. The world crude steel capacity utilization ratio of the 66 countries in December 2009 was 71.5 percent, compared to 74.7 percent in November 2009. Compared to 2008, the utilization ratio in December 2009 increased by 13.4 percentage points.
China's crude steel production in 2009 reached 567.8 million mt, an increase of 13.5 percent on 2008. This is a record annual crude steel production figure for a single country. China's share of world steel production continued to grow in 2009 producing 47 percent of world total crude steel output, an increase of nine percentage points compared to 2008.
Asia produced 795.4 million mt of crude steel in 2009, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to 2008. Its share of world steel production increased to 65 percent in 2009 from 58 percent in 2008. Japan produced 87.5 million mt in 2008, a decrease of 26.3 percent on 2008. India's crude steel production was 56.6 million mt in 2009, 2.8 percent growth on 2008. South Korea showed a decrease of 9.4 percent, producing 48.6 million mt in 2009.
The EU-27, where all major steel producing countries including Germany, Italy and France showed substantial decline, recorded a decrease of 29.7 percent compared to 2008, producing 139.1 million mt of crude steel in 2009.
In 2009, crude steel production in North America was 82.3 million mt, a decrease of 33.9 percent on 2008. The US produced 58.1 million mt of crude steel, 36.4 percent lower than 2008.
The CIS showed a decrease of 14.7 percent in 2009. Russia produced 59.9 million mt of crude steel, a 12.5 percent reduction on 2008 while Ukraine recorded a decrease of 20.2 percent with year-end figures of 29.8 million mt.
Top ten steel producer countries (in million metric tons) | ||||
Rank | Country | 2009 | 2008 | Year-on-year change rate (%) |
1 | China | 567.8 | 500.3 | 13.5 |
2 | Japan | 87.5 | 118.7 | -26.3 |
3 | Russia | 59.9 | 68.5 | -12.5 |
4 | US | 58.1 | 91.4 | -36.4 |
5 | India | 56.6 | 55.1 | 2.7 |
6 | South Korea | 48.6 | 53.6 | -9.4 |
7 | Germany | 32.7 | 45.8 | -28.7 |
8 | Ukraine | 29.8 | 37.3 | -20.2 |
9 | Brazil | 26.5 | 33.7 | -21.4 |
10 | Turkey | 25.3 | 26.8 | -5.6 |
