World Crude Steel Production Zoomed 7% in May
Steel News | 2018-06-26 07:54:13
Except South America, all other regions reported increased production during the month.
By Paul Ploumis
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The monthly crude steel production by world countries surged higher significantly during May 2018. The data published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) suggests 6.6% year-on-year jump in production during the month. The report includes production figures compiled from 64 steel-producing countries across the world, which accounted for approximately 99% of the world crude steel production in 2017. It must be noted that the world crude steel production had soared by 4.1% in April this year.
The May 2018 crude steel output totaled 154.856 million tonnes (Mt), which is 6.6% higher when compared with the year-ago month. The crude steel production had totaled only 145.237 Mt in May last year. The crude steel capacity utilization ratio stood at 77.7% in May 2018, which is 4.2% higher than the same month a year before. Month-on-month, the capacity utilization ratio has edged higher by 1%.
Except South America, all other regions reported increased production during the month. The sharp decline in output by Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Paraguay dragged the regional steel output by 5.7% over the previous year. The North American climbed higher by 4.3% in May 2018, led by 17.6% surge in production by Cuba. The Canadian output too was up by 14.3%. The U.S. production recorded jump by 3% from 6.901 Mt in May 2017 to 7.107 Mt in May this year.
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The steel output by EU-28 countries was up by 1.8%. Germany, the largest producer in the region, reported 3% jump in monthly output. Italy and Spain too witnessed increased production levels. However, France reported 6.5% decline in output over May 2017. The output by other European countries was up marginally by 1.3%.
Middle East region reported phenomenal jump in output. The regional output surged higher by 15.2%, mainly on account of 38% jump in output by Saudi Arabia. The year-on-year variation in crude steel output by other regions is: CIS (+9.9%), Africa (+4.1%), Asia (+7.7%) and Oceania (+16.5%).
