Total Global Crude Steel Production Has a Increase by 2% in H1

According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), in June this year the crude steel output of 64 countries surveyed across the globe reached 132 million mt, increasing by 1.9 percent on year-on-year basis and down 3.15 percent compared to May this year. Total global crude steel production in the first six months of the current year rose two percent compared to the same period of 2012 amounting to 789.8 million mt.

In June, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 87.9 million mt, up by 3.5 percent, with 64.66 million mt produced by China, up by 4.6 percent, 9.3 million mt produced by Japan, up by 0.9 percent, and 5.45 million mt produced by South Korea, down by 5.4 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis.

EU-27 countries produced 14.17 million mt of crude steel in June, down 3.5 percent compared with June 2012. In June this year, Germany's output was 3.68 million mt, down by 2.2 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 2.18 million mt, down 10.3 percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output was 1.3 million mt, up 5.9 percent year on year.

Turkey produced 2.95 million metric tons of crude steel in June this year, with a slight increase of 0.5 percent from the same month in 2012. Meanwhile, Iran's crude steel production in June this year amounted to 1.25 million mt, up two percent compared to June 2012.

The CIS registered a crude steel output of 9.31 million mt in June, up 0.8 percent year on year, with Russia producing 5.7 million mt, decreasing 0.8 percent compared to June 2012, and Ukraine producing 3.06 million mt, up 7.8 percent on year-on-year basis.

In North America in June, crude steel output totaled 9.8 million mt, up 0.1 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.22 million mt and Mexico producing 1.45 million mt, down 0.2 percent and up 2.6 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.

Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in June amounted to 3.76 million mt, down by 1.5 percent year on year, with Brazil's output totaling 2.83 million mt, up 2.7 percent year on year.

In June this year, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 79.2 percent, declining slightly compared to 79.6 percent in May this year, and down 1.5 percentage points compared to the same month last year.

The top 10 crude steel producing countries in the first six months of 2013 are as follows:

Tonnages (x 1,000 mt)