On Tuesday, April 21, the World Steel Association (worldsteel), formerly the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), announced world crude steel production results for March 2009.
World crude steel production for the 66 countries surveyed was 92 million mt in March, down 23.5 percent year on year, while world crude steel production in the first quarter of 2009 was 264 million mt, down by 22.8 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008.
Only China showed a slight increase of 1.4 percent while all the other major steel producing countries showed a decrease in the first quarter of 2009.
In the first three months of 2009, Asia produced 173 million mt of crude steel, down by 8.9 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008. The EU produced 30 million mt of steel in the first quarter of 2009, down by 43.8 percent compared to the same quarter of 2008. North America showed a 52.1 decline, producing 16.6 million mt of crude steel during the first three months of 2009.
When we look at the Asian countries, China's crude steel production in March 2009 was 45.1 million mt, down by 0.3 percent compared to March 2008. Japan produced 5.7 million mt of crude steel in March 2009, down by 46.7 percent compared to the same month last year. South Korea showed a decrease of 21.2 percent year on year, producing 3.7 million mt of crude steel in March 2009.
With regard to the EU, Germany produced 2.1 million mt of crude steel in March 2009, a decrease of 49.8 percent from March 2008. Italy's crude steel production was 1.7 million mt, down 42.7 percent compared to the same month last year. France showed a decrease of 36.7 percent year on year, producing 1.1 million mt in March 2009. Spain's crude steel production for March 2009 was 1.1 million mt, 41.2 percent less than the same month last year.
The US produced 4.1 million mt of crude steel in March 2009, a decrease of 52.7 percent compared to the same month last year, while Brazilian production was 1.7 million mt, 41.5 percent less than in March 2008.
Russia produced 4.6 million mt of crude steel in March 2009, showing a 30.9 percent decrease from March 2008. Ukraine produced 2.4 million mt of crude steel in March, a 38.5 percent decrease year on year.
Turkey produced 1.8 million mt of crude steel in March 2009, down by 24.5 percent compared to the year-ago period.