World crude steel production reached 139Mt for May 2016, down 0.1% when compared to May last year, according to figures released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) and based on figures submitted by the 66 countries reporting to worldsteel.
China's crude steel production for May was 70.5Mt, up 1.8% when compared with May 2015. Japan was down 0.9% at 8.8Mt; India's crude steel production was up 4.9% at 8Mt and South Korea was down 3.5% at 5.8Mt.
In the EU Germany produced 3.9Mt of crude steel, up 4% while Italy's figure of 2.2Mt was up 9.3% when compared with May 2015. Spain on the other hand was down 10.6% having only produced 1.3Mt, and France was sporting a drop of 18.8% following production of 1.2Mt.
The Turks produced 3Mt of crude steel, up 5.4% while in Russia there was a small increase of 0.4% to 6Mt. The Ukraine produced 2.3Mt of crude steel, up 5.7%.
Across the Atlantic, the USA produced 6.8Mt of crude steel, down 0.4% while in South America, Brazil's figure was down 13.2% at 2.6Mt.
The crude steel capacity utilisation rate of all 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association was 71.3%, one percentage point lower than in May 2015 and 0.1 percentage point lower than the April 2016 figure.