Global crude steel production in August this year increased by 6.3 percent year on year to 143.58 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 72.2 percent, up 3.3 percentage points compared to August 2016 and down 0.2 percentage points compared to July.
In the first eight months of this year, global crude steel production increased to 1.12 billion mt, up 4.9 percent year on year.
In August this year, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 101.2 million mt, up 7.2 percent, with 74.59 million mt produced by China, up 8.7 percent, 8.73 million mt produced by Japan, decreasing by two percent, 8.47 million mt produced by India, up 4.1 percent, and 6.16 million mt produced by South Korea, rising by 4.9 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 12.62 million mt of crude steel in August, up 3.6 percent year on year. In August, Germany's output was 3.63 million mt, rising by 3.3 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 1.09 million mt, up 0.4 percent year on year, and France's crude steel output amounted to 1.13 million mt, up 15.5 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 3.18 million metric tons of crude steel in August, with a 13.3 percent increase from August last year. Iran's crude steel production in August amounted to 1.75 million mt, up 15.1 percent year on year. The CIS registered a crude steel output of 8.09 million mt in August, falling four percent on year-on-year basis, with Russia producing 5.6 million mt, decreasing by five percent, and Ukraine producing 1.8 million mt, down 5.5 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in August, crude steel output totaled 9.97 million mt, increasing 6.5 percent, with the US producing 7.06 million mt, rising by 6.3 percent, and Mexico producing 1.73 million mt, up five percent, all on year-on-year basis. Crude steel output in South America in August amounted to 3.76 million mt, up 1.6 percent from August last year, with Brazil's output totaling 2.95 million mt, increasing by 1.2 percent year on year.