World crude steel production for the 62 countries reporting to the International Iron and Steel Institute stood at an estimated 81.2 million metric tons in January, an 8.4 percent increase from last January.
For the first time, the January 2004 figures for the European Union include production for the existing 15 countries that are part of the European Union and the 10 new countries that will join in May 2004. Of the 10 new EU countries, Poland, and the Czech Republic are the largest crude steel producers. EU-25 figures include estimates for Greece, Latvia and Portugal.
The United Kingdom, Spain and France reported strong increases in crude steel production in January. Production in the UK increased to 1.2 million metric tons, up by 21.7 percent compared to January 2003. Production in Spain reached 1.3 million metric tons, up 12.1 percent, while France produced 1.8 million metric tons of crude steel, a 9 percent increase.
Production in China reached 19.4 million metric tons for the month. This is up 25.5 percent from last January, a slightly lower increase than in December 2003, which had shown a jump of 28 percent month-on-month.
Denmark has ceased to produce crude steel and is no longer included in the IISI monthly statistics.