On September 21, the World Steel Association (worldsteel), formerly the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), announced world crude steel production results for August 2009 and for the first eight months of the year.
According to the worldsteel report, world crude steel production for the 66 countries surveyed was 106.5 million mt in August, down by 5.5 percent year on year, but up 2.5 percent compared to the previous month, continuing to show a steady increase since April this year. Meanwhile, world crude steel production in the January-August period totaled 759.5 million mt, decreasing by 18.1 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
In August, China's crude steel production amounted to 52.3 million mt, up 22 percent compared to August last year, reaching the highest volume of crude steel the country has ever produced in a single month. Japan produced 8.3 million mt of crude steel in August this year, down by 18.3 percent compared to the same month last year, while South Korea showed a decrease of 5.4 percent year on year, producing 4.24 million mt of crude steel. India's crude steel output in August totaled 4.73 million mt, down 0.3 percent year on year.
In the EU, Germany's crude steel output in August was 2.95 million mt, a decrease of 26 percent from August last year. Italy produced 740,000 mt in August this year, down by 54.1 percent year on year. Spain produced 1.1 million mt of crude steel in the month in question, 35.2 percent less than in the same month last year. France showed a decrease of 37.1 percent year on year, producing 824,000 mt.
The US produced 5.2 million mt of crude steel in August, a decrease of 40 percent compared to the same month last year. Brazil produced 2.676 million mt of crude steel, 15 percent lower than in August last year.
Meanwhile, Russia's crude steel production in August this year was 5.02 million mt, a decrease of 20.8 percent from August 2008, while Ukraine produced 2.66 million mt of crude steel, 17 percent lower year on year.
Turkey produced 2.3 million mt of crude steel in August this year, 9.1 percent down from August last year.
In the month in question Iran produced 850,000 mt of crude steel, 15.2 percent more than in August 2008.
With respect to crude steel production by region, in the first eight months of 2009, the EU-27 produced 84.222 million mt of crude steel, down 41 percent, CIS countries produced 60.806 million mt of crude steel, down 29.3 percent, North America produced 49.663 million mt of crude steel, decreasing by 46.5 percent, while South America produced a total of 22.649 million mt, down 32.4, all compared to the same period of the previous year. Meanwhile, the crude steel output of Africa reached 9.543 million mt in the same period, down 21.8 percent year on year. In January-August this year, the crude steel production of the Middle East totaled 11.07 million mt, up 2.2 percent, while Asia produced 499.897 million mt, down 4.1 percent, both compared to January-August 2008.