Global crude steel production in April this year increased by 1.7 percent year on year to 136.63 million metric tons, while a 3.33 percent fall was observed on month-on-month basis, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel). In the given month, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 78.7 percent, 1.2 percentage points lower compared to April 2013 and 0.3 percentage points lower compared to March of the current year.
In the meantime, total global crude steel production in the first four months of this year rose 2.5 percent compared to the same period of 2013, amounting to 543.03 million metric tons.
In April, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 92.78 million mt, up 2.2 percent, with 68.84 million mt produced by China, up 2.1 percent, 8.94 million mt produced by Japan, down 2.5 percent, and 6.10 million mt produced by South Korea, up 10.8 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 14.61 million mt of crude steel in April, up by four percent compared with April 2013. In April this year, Germany's output was 3.71 million mt, up 3.9 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.03 million mt, down four percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output amounted to 1.23 million mt, down 3.1 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.62 million metric tons of crude steel in April this year, with a 9.1 percent decrease from the same month in 2013.
Iran's crude steel production in April this year amounted to 1.29 million mt, up 1.6 percent compared to April 2013.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 9.03 million mt in April this year, down 0.6 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.80 million mt, increasing 0.7 percent, and Ukraine producing 2.63 million mt, down 4.5 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in April, crude steel output totaled 9.73 million mt, up 0.7 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.03 million mt and Mexico producing 1.59 million mt, down 1.6 percent and up 12.1 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in April amounted to 3.70 million mt, down 4.6 percent from April 2013, with Brazil's output totaling 2.77 million mt, down 5.1 percent year on year.