On Friday, March 20, the World Steel Association (worldsteel), formerly the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), announced world crude steel production results for February 2009.
World crude steel production for the 66 countries surveyed was 84 million mt in February, down 22 percent year on year. Crude steel production showed a continued decrease in nearly all the major steel producing countries in February 2009 compared to the same month in 2008, excepting Iran and China.
Iran recorded an increase of 15.9 percent producing 900,000 mt of crude steel. The Middle East was the only region which showed production growth in February 2009.
The other country which registered increased crude steel production in February was China with 40.4 million mt, up 4.9 percent on February 2008.
When we look at other Asian countries, Japan produced 5.5 million mt of crude steel in February 2009, down 44.2 percent compared to the same month last year. South Korea showed a decrease of 24.8 year on year, producing 3.2 million mt of crude steel in February 2009.
With regard to the EU, Germany produced 2.6 million mt of crude steel in February 2009, a decrease of 31.6 percent from February 2008. Italy's crude steel production was 1.7 million mt, down 39.9 percent compared to the same month last year. France showed a decrease of 35.7 percent year on year, producing 1.0 million mt in February 2009. Spain's crude steel production for February 2009 was 900.000 mt, 35.7 percent less than the same month last year.
The US produced 3.8 million mt of crude steel in February 2009, a decrease of 54.2 percent compared to the same month last year, while Brazilian production was 1.7 million mt, 39 percent less than in February 2008.
Russia produced 4.1 million mt of crude steel in February 2009, showing a 32.1 percent decrease from February 2008. Ukraine produced 2.3 million mt of crude steel in February, a 33.6 percent decrease year on year.