World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 136Mt in April 2016, down 0.5% compared to the same period last year.
Crude steel production in China increased 0.5% while Japan’s output was up 1.2% to 8.5Mt. In South Korea 5.7Mt was produced, down 1.3% on last year’s figure.
In Europe, Germany’s crude steel production was down 1.5% at 3.6Mt. In Italy it was up 14.5% at 2.1Mt. Spain produced 1.2Mt, down 10.6%.
The Turks produced 2.9Mt, up 5.3% and in Russia crude production was down 0.4% at 5.9Mt. Ukraine recorded an 11.7% increase (2.2Mt).
Across the pond, the United States saw an increase of 2.5% with crude steel production at 6.6Mt.
Brazilian production was down 20.6% at 2.3Mt.
The crude steel capacity utilisation rate of the 66 countries in April 2016 was 71.5%, 1.3 percentage points lower than in April 2015 and 0.8 percentage points higher than March 2016.