World crude steel production for the first six months of 2015 was down by 2.4%, according to figures released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) based on the production figures of 65 countries reporting to the organisation.
According to worldsteel, 136Mt of steel was produced in June 2015 while the figure for the first six months of the year was 813Mt, down 2% when compared with the same period last year.
The Middle East increased production by 2.9% whereas North America and the CIS reported negative growth for H1 2015 and were down 6.9%. Crude steel production in Asia declined by 1.5% but increased by 0.5% in the EU 28. In South America production remained static when compared with the same period of 2014.
China’s crude steel production for June 2015 was 69Mt, down by 0.8% and Japan produced 8.6Mt and was down 6.2% compared to June 2014. In India production was up by 0.8% to 7.4Mt while South Korea produced 5.9Mt, down 3.6% compared to June 2014.
In the EU, Germany produced 3.8Mt of crude steel in June 2015, up 5.8% compared to June 2014. Italy produced 1.9Mt, down 11.4% and France produced 1.4Mt, a 1.3% decrease compared to June 2014. Spanish production was down 3.3% year-on-year to 1.3Mt while Turkey, down 4.5%, produced 2.8Mt. Turkey’s crude steel production for June 2015 was 2.8 Mt, down by 4.5% on June 2014.
Russia produced 5.6Mt of crude steel in June, down 7.5% over the previous year. Ukraine produced 2Mt down 21.8%.
In the USA 6.7Mt of crude steel was produced in June 2015, down 8.5% compared to June 2014.
Brazil’s crude steel production for June 2015 was 2.8Mt, up 2.1% on June 2014’s figure.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries reporting to worldsteel in June 2015 was 72.2%, 3.5 percentage points lower than in June 2014 and 0.1 percentage point higher than in May 2015.