According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), in 2013 global crude steel output reached 1.61 billion mt, increasing by 3.5 percent on year-on-year basis. In December of the same year, world crude steel production for the 65 countries reporting to worldsteel totaled 129.19 million mt, with an increase of 6.3 percent compared to December 2012.
In 2013, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 1.06 billion mt, up six percent, with 779.04 million mt produced by China, up 7.5 percent, 110.57 million mt produced by Japan, up 3.1 percent, and 66 million mt produced by South Korea, down 4.4 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis. The Asia region's share of world steel production increased from 65.32 percent in 2012 to 66.93 percent in 2013.
EU-27 countries produced 165.60 million mt of crude steel in 2013, down 1.8 percent compared with 2012. In 2013, Germany's output remained unchanged, amounting to 42.64 million mt, Italy's crude steel output totaled 24.06 million mt, down 11.7 percent, and Spain's crude steel output came to 13.74 million mt, up 0.7 percent, all on year-on-year basis. The biggest increase was recorded in UK, up 23.8 percent to 11.86 million mt, while the biggest decrease was recorded in Hungary, down 42.7 percent to 883,000 metric tons, both year on year.
Turkey produced 34.66 million metric tons of crude steel in 2013, with a 3.4 percent decrease from 2012, ranking as the eighth largest crude steel producer in the world, just as in 2012.
The CIS registered a crude steel output of 108.74 million mt in 2013, down 1.9 percent year on year, with Russia producing 69.4 million mt, down 1.5 percent, and Ukraine producing 32.82 million mt, down 0.5 percent, both on year-on-year basis.
In North America in 2013, crude steel output reached 119.25 million mt, down 1.9 percent year on year, with the US producing 86.96 million mt, down two percent on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in 2013 declined to 46.02 million mt, down by 0.8 percent year on year, with Brazil's output falling to 34.18 million mt, down by one percent year on year.
In December 2013, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 74.2 percent, down by 1.6 percentage points month on month and up 2.2 percentage points compared to the same month last year
