Steel Passes One Billion Tons Mark Again

World crude steel production for the 61 countries reporting to the International Iron and Steel Institute, Brussels, exceeded 1 billion tons for the year 2005 before December figures have even been reported.

In November, global production was estimated to be 94 million metric tons, 4.1 percent greater than for the same month of 2004. That year was the first year in which the world produced more than one billion tons of crude steel, and the figure will reach about 1.1 billion when 2005 figures are calculated.

Total crude steel production in China was 317.7 million metric tons for the first eleven months of 2005, an increase of more than 25 percent over the same period in 2004. Production in many other parts of the world has either grown at a much slower pace or, more commonly, has declined in 2005.

In North America, United States steel production is down about 5.9 percent compared to 2004, while Canada’s production has also subsided by 4.9 percent.

Among European nations, steel production is down 4.2 percent in Germany, down 6.1 percent in France, down 5.1 percent in the United Kingdom, but has grown by 2.6 percent in Italy.

Total Japanese production for eleven months of 2005 is 103 million metric tons, just 0.2 percent higher than for the same period of 2004. Turkish production is up 2.5 percent while steelmakers in India have produced 34.5 million tons—up some 16.6 percent over the 2004 figure.

Total world production for the first eleven months of 2005 is 1.01 billion metric tons, an increase of 6.1 percent compared to the first eleven months of last year. But excluding China, world crude steel production is actually 0.9 percent lower than for the same period of 2004.