World crude steel production for March 2015 was 138Mt, a 2.7% decline when compared with the same period last year, according to figures released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) and based on figures submitted by the 65 countries that report to the World Steel Association.
During the first three months of 2015, Asia produced 272Mt, down 1.1% when compared with Q1 2014. The European Union produced 43.7Mt down, down 0.6%, and the North American steel industry produced 28.1Mt, a decrease of 6.4%.
Crude steel production in the CIS for the first quarter of 2015 was 24.8Mt, down 5.9% on last year’s figure while in China there was a 1.2% decrease to 69.5Mt. Japan’s figure stood at 9.3Mt, down 4.5%.
In March 2015 Germany produced 3.9Mt of crude steel, down 4.4%. Italy produced 2.1 Mt, down 9.8% while French crude steel production for March 2015 was 2.8 Mt, down by -4.1% on March 2014.
The USA produced 6.6Mt of crude steel in March 2015, a decrease of 12.7%, while in Brazil the figure stood at 2.8Mt, a decline of 7.4%.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries in March 2015 was 71.6%, which is four percentage points down when compared to March 2014. When compared to February 2015, the figure was 1.8 percentage points lower.