On February 22, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) announced that world crude steel production in January this year amounted to 108.89 million metric tons, increasing by 25 percent year on year and up 1.8 percent compared to December 2009.
In the month in question, the world crude steel capacity utilization ratio of the 66 countries surveyed was 72.9 percent, an increase from 71.9 percent in December 2009. Compared to January 2009, the utilization ratio in January 2010 increased by 11.6 percentage points.
In January, China's crude steel production totaled 48.7 million metric tons, an increase of 18.2 percent, while Japan produced 8.7 million metric tons of crude steel, up 36.8 percent, both compared to the same month last year. South Korea showed an increase of 32.4 percent from January 2009, producing 4.5 million metric tons of crude steel in January 2010.
In the EU, Germany's crude steel production for January 2010 was 3.4 million metric tons, with an increase of 27.7 percent compared to January 2009. In January this year, Spain produced 1.4 million metric tons of crude steel - up 51.1 percent, France's crude steel output was 1.1 million metric tons - up 32.3 percent, and Italy's crude steel production totaled 1.88 million metric tons - up 17.2 percent, all compared to the same month last year.
Turkey produced 2.1 million metric tons of crude steel in January 2010, with a two percent increase over the same month in 2009, while Iran's crude steel output declined by 5.2 percent year on year, reaching 900,000 metric tons.
In the given month, the US produced 6.1 million metric tons of crude steel, with an increase of 48.8 percent compared to January 2009.
Brazilian crude steel production stood at 2.7 million metric tons in January this year, 66.6 percent higher than January 2009.
In the first month of 2010, Russia produced 5.2 million metric tons of crude steel, up 33 percent year on year, while Ukraine's crude steel production for January 2010 was 2.7 million metric tons, 28.4 percent higher than the same month last year.
Australia produced 0.6 million metric tons of crude steel in January 2010, recording a 38.6 percent increase over the same month in 2009.
