World crude steel production for the 62 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 130.56Mt in May 2012, an increase of 0.7% compared to May 2011.
China’s crude steel production for May was 61.2Mt, an increase of 2.5% compared to May 2011.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 9.2Mt up 2.0% compared to May last year. South Korea’s crude steel output was 6.0Mt, an increase of 2.0% on May a year earlier. India produced an estimated 6.2Mt up 3% on May 2011.
In the EU, German output was 3.7Mt of crude steel, a decrease of -9.7% on May 2011. Italy’s crude steel production was 2.6Mt, down -3.3% on May 2011. Spain’s crude steel production for May 2012 was 1.3 Mt, -13.9% lower than May 2011. Increases in output were reported in France which produced 1.5Mt of crude steel, up by 1.3% compared to May 2011 and in UK which produced 0.98Mt in May an increase of 8.0% on May 2011 largely due to the restart of the Redcar furnace on Teesside.
Turkey’s crude steel production for May 2012 was 3.1Mt, an increase of 6.6% compared to May 2011.
The US produced 7.7Mt of crude steel, up 7.4% on May 2011.
Brazil’s crude steel production was 2.9Mt, -11.7% lower than May 2011.
The world crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 62 countries reporting to worldsteel in May 2012 slid to 79.6% from 81.3% in April 2012. Compared to May 2011, it was 1.4% lower. During the past 18 months, the ratio was at its highest in April 2011 with 82.8% and the lowest ratio was in December 2011 with 70.7%.
