Global crude steel production in February this year increased by 3.5 percent year on year to 131.8 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 73.3 percent, up 1.8 percentage points compared to February 2017 and rising by 0.5 percentage points compared to January.
In the January-February period of this year, global crude steel production increased to 276.65 million mt, up four percent year on year.
In February this year, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 90.47 million mt, rising by 4.3 percent, with 64.93 million mt produced by China, up 5.9 percent, 8.29 million mt produced by Japan, decreasing by 0.5 percent, 8.43 million mt produced by India, up 3.4 percent, and 5.41 million mt produced by South Korea, falling by 2.1 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-28 countries produced 13.35 million mt of crude steel in February, down 0.8 percent year on year. In February, Germany's output was 3.34 million mt, falling by 3.2 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.09 million mt, up 4.5 percent year on year, and France's crude steel output amounted to 1.25 million mt, up one percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.99 million metric tons of crude steel in February, with an 8.7 percent increase from February last year. Iran's crude steel production in February amounted to 2.12 million mt, up 48.6 percent year on year. The CIS registered a crude steel output of 7.67 million mt in February, decreasing by 0.5 percent on year-on-year basis, with Russia producing 5.15 million mt, declining by 5.7 percent, and Ukraine producing 1.9 million mt, up 11.2 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in February, crude steel output totaled 9.05 million mt, falling by 2.3 percent, with the US producing 6.44 million mt, increasing by 0.4 percent, and Mexico producing 1.535 million mt, down 7.1 percent, all on year-on-year basis. Crude steel output in South America in February amounted to 3.48 million mt, up 6.9 percent from February last year, with Brazil's output totaling 2.71 million mt, increasing by 5.5 percent year on year.