Global crude steel production in July this year increased by 6.3 percent year on year to 143.2 million metric tons, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel). In the given month, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 72.1 percent, up 3.2 percentage points compared to July 2016 and down 1.53 percentage points compared to June.
In the first seven months of this year, global crude steel production increased to 977.32 million mt, up 4.6 percent year on year.
In July this year, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 100.4 million mt, up 7.9 percent, with 74.02 million mt produced by China, up 10.3 percent, 8.6 million mt produced by Japan, decreasing by 4.3 percent, 8.36 million mt produced by India, up 3.5 percent, and 6.16 million mt produced by South Korea, rising by 2.3 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 13.65 million mt of crude steel in July, up 3.9 percent year on year. In July, Germany's output was 3.6 million mt, rising by 3.6 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.12 million mt, up 1.7 percent year on year, and France's crude steel output amounted to 1.15 million mt, up 1.7 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 3.34 million metric tons of crude steel in July, with a 27.8 percent increase from July last year. Iran's crude steel production in June amounted to 1.57 million mt, up 16.5 percent year on year. The CIS registered a crude steel output of 8.09 million mt in July, falling 7.9 percent on year-on-year basis, with Russia producing 5.6 million mt, decreasing by eight percent, and Ukraine producing 1.81 million mt, down 12.9 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in July, crude steel output totaled 9.94 million mt, increasing 4.4 percent, with the US producing 7.07 million mt, rising by 5.6 percent, and Mexico producing 1.72 million mt, up 1.9 percent, all on year-on-year basis. Crude steel output in South America in July amounted to 3.57 million mt, up 0.4 percent from July last year, with Brazil's output totaling 2.83 million mt, increasing by one percent year on year.