World Steel Production Increases in January

According to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), world crude steel production reached 119 million metric tons in January 2011, a 5.3 percent improvement from January 2010.

For this past January, China’s crude steel production reached 52.8 million metric tons, a 0.5 percent increase from the same time in 2010. Other key areas in Asia include Japan, which produced 9.7 million metric tons of crude steel in January 2011, up 10.7 percent compared to the same time last year; and South Korea, which saw January crude steel production increase by 24.2 percent to 5.6 million metric tons from figures the same time last year.

Worldsteel also reports that in the European Union, Germany’s crude steel production for January 2011 stands at 3.7 million metric tons, an increase of 4.4 percent compared to January 2010; Italy’s crude steel production was 2.1 million metric tons, up 10.3 percent compared to the same month last year; and Spain, which produced 1.4 million metric tons of crude steel in January 2011, an increase of 4.1 percent in January 2010.

Turkey produced 2.7 million metric tons of crude steel in January 2011, a 33.4 percent increase from the same month in 2010.

In the Americas, the United States produced 6.8 million metric tons of crude steel in January 2011, an increase of 9.4 percent compared to January 2010; and Brazilian crude steel production in January 2011 was 2.8 million metric tons, 3.8 percent greater than January 2010.

Worldsteel also reports that the world crude steel capacity utilization ratio of the 64 countries in January 2011 was 75.6 percent, an increase from 73.3 percent in December 2010. However, the utilization rate for January 2011 is down 0.4 percent from the same time last year.