According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), in January this year the crude steel output of 62 countries surveyed across the globe reached 124.8 million mt, increasing by 0.8 percent on year-on-year basis. Total global crude steel production increased 2.9 percent on month-on-month basis in January, from the 121.3 million mt recorded in December 2012.
In January, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 82.3 million mt, up four percent, with 59.3 million mt produced by China, up by 4.6 percent, 8.9 million mt produced by Japan, up by 2.7 percent, and 5.75 million mt produced by South Korea, down by 0.4 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.
EU-27 countries produced 13.45 million mt of crude steel in January, down five percent compared with January 2012. In January this year, Germany's output was 3.55 million mt, up by 5.4 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 1.8 million mt, down 19.7 percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output was 1.1 million mt, down 2.5 percent year on year.
Turkey produced 2.86 million metric tons of crude steel in January this year, with an 8.8 percent decrease from the same month in 2012.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 8.9 million mt in January of the current year, down 6.2 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.7 million mt, down 5.7 percent compared to January 2012, and Ukraine producing 2.75 million mt, down 4.4 percent on year-on-year basis.
In North America in January, crude steel output totaled 10.1 million mt, down three percent year on year, with the US producing 7.26 million mt and Mexico producing 1.55 million mt, down 5.8 percent and up 5.6 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in January amounted to 3.6 million mt, down by 3.2 percent year on year, with Brazil's output coming to 2.6 million mt, down by 6.1 percent year on year.
In the given month, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 71.2 percent, down from 73.2 percent recorded in December 2012, and also down 5.5 percentage points compared to the same month last year.
The top 10 crude steel producing countries in January 2013 are as follows:
