According to the preliminary data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) on June 21, world crude steel production in May this year amounted to 124.18 million metric tons, increasing by 29.1 percent year on year and up by 2.08 percent compared to April this year.
Meanwhile, in the first five months of 2010, world crude steel production rose 29.8 percent year on year to 586.06 million metric tons.
In May this year, Asia produced 78.14 million metric tons of crude steel - up 22.7 percent, the EU's output amounted to 16.32 million metric tons - up 51.2 percent, North America produced 9.84 million metric tons - up 67.1 percent, South America's production came to 3.7 million metric tons - up 32.4 percent, the CIS's crude steel output totaled 9.57 million metric tons - up 25.1 percent, all compared to May 2009.
In May, the world crude steel capacity utilization ratio of the 66 countries surveyed was 82 percent, rising by 15 percentage points as compared to May 2009 and down from 83.4 percent in April this year.
In May, China's crude steel production totaled 56.14 million metric tons, an increase of 20.7 percent, while Japan produced 9.73 million metric tons of crude steel, up 50.2 percent, both compared to the same month last year. South Korea showed an increase of 28 percent from May 2009, producing 5.17 million metric tons of crude steel in May 2010. India, on the other hand, produced 5.53 million metric tons of crude steel, up two percent year on year.
In the EU, Germany's crude steel production for May 2010 was 4.07 million metric tons, with an increase of 87.7 percent compared to May 2009. In May, Spain produced 1.64 million metric tons of crude steel - up 24.9 percent, France's crude steel output was 1.57 million metric tons - up 58.6 percent, and Italy's crude steel production totaled 2.47 million metric tons - up 42 percent, all compared to the same month last year.
Turkey produced 2.53 million metric tons of crude steel in May this year, with an 18.8 percent increase over the same month in 2009, while Iran's crude steel output improved by 8.3 percent year on year, reaching 1.03 million metric tons.
In the given month, the US produced 7.16 million metric tons of crude steel, with an increase of 73.8 percent compared to May 2009.
Brazilian crude steel production stood at 2.86 million metric tons in May this year, 50.8 percent higher than May 2009.
In the fifth month of 2010, Russia produced 5.83 million metric tons of crude steel, up 24.6 percent year on year, while Ukraine's crude steel production for May 2010 was 3.07 million metric tons, 30.6 percent higher than the same month last year.
