World crude steel production up for the first half of 2017

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World crude steel production for the 67 countries that report to the Brussels-based World Steel Association (WorldSteel) was 836 million metric tons from January through June of 2017, which is 4.5 percent more than was produced during the same period in 2016.

According to WorldSteel, Asia produced 576.8 million metric tons of crude steel in the first half of the year, an increase of 4.8 percent over the first half of 2016. The EU produced 86.1 million metric tons of crude steel in the first half of 2017, up by 4.1 percent compared with the same period of 2016. North America’s crude steel production in the first six months of 2017 was 57.4 million metric tons, an increase of 2.4 percent compared with the first half of 2016.

The Commonwealth of Independent States produced 49.7 million metric tons of crude steel in the first six months of 2017, declining 2.5 percent from the same period in 2016.

In June 2017, 3.2 percent more steel was produced than in June 2016, WorldSteel notes.

The countries reporting increased production are:

• Spain, which produced 1.3 million metric tons of crude steel, an 8.1 increase relative to June 2016;
• Korea, which produced 5.9 million metric tons of crude steel in June 2017, an increase of 7.7 percent compared with June 2016;
• Turkey, which produced 3 million metric tons, an increase of 7.1 percent compared with June 2016;
• China, which produced 73.2 million metric tons, 5.7 percent more than in June 2016;
• Brazil produced 2.6 million metric tons for a 4 percent increase relative to June 2016;
• Italy, which produced 2.1 million metric tons of crude steel, a 1.8 percent increase from June 2016; and
• France, which produced 1.3 million metric tons, showing 1.3 percent growth over June 2016.

Countries posting declines in production for June 2017 are:

• Japan, which produced 8.4 million metric tons of crude steel in June 2017, a decrease of 4.3 percent compared with June 2016;
• Germany, which produced 3.6 million metric tons of crude steel, a decrease of 1.7 percent compared with June 2016; and
• the U.S. produced 6.7 million metric tons of crude steel for the month, a decrease of 1.7 percent compared with June 2016.

The crude steel capacity utilization ratio was 73 percent for the month of June 2017, WorldSteel reports. This is 1.4 percentage points higher than June 2016 and 1.3 percentage points higher than in May 2017.