On Friday, February 20, the World Steel Association (worldsteel), formerly the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), announced the world crude steel production results for January 2009.
World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to worldsteel was 86 million mt in January, down 24 percent year on year. However, world steel production in January 2009 was 4.5 percent higher than in the previous month, mainly as a result of the 9.9 production increase in Chinese production.
According to the results, all major steel producing countries showed a two-digit decrease in crude steel production in the first month of 2009 compared to January 2008, except China.
The world's largest steel producing country China's crude steel production for January 2009 reached 41.5 million mt, an increase of 2.4 percent on January 2008.
Japan produced 6.4 million mt of crude steel in January 2009, down 37.8 percent compared to the same month last year, while South Korea showed a decrease of 25.6 percent from January 2008, producing 3.5 million mt of crude steel in January 2009.
In the EU-27, Germany produced 2.7 million mt of crude steel in January 2009, a decrease of 35.6 percent from January 2008. Italy's crude steel production was 1.6 million mt, down 40.4 percent, France's crude steel production was 0.9 million mt, down 46.7 percent, while the UK's crude steel production amounted to 0.7 million mt, down 45 percent - all compared to the same month last year.
The US produced 4.1 million mt of crude steel in January 2009, a decrease of 52.7 percent compared to the same month last year, while Brazilian crude steel production was 1.6 million mt, 45.6 percent less than in January 2008.
In January 2009, Australia showed a 36.4 percent decrease from January 2008, producing 0.4 million mt of crude steel, while Egypt produced 0.4 million mt of crude steel, down 23 percent year on year.