World crude steel production was 385.7 Mt in the first three months of 2016, down 3.6% compared with the same period in 2015, according to figures released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
Figures based on submissions from the 66 countries reporting to worldsteel, show that 137Mt in March, a decrease of 0.5%.
Asia produced 263.6 Mt of crude steel, down 3.1% over the first quarter of 2015. The EU produced 40.9 Mt down 7.0% and North America’s crude steel production was 27.5 Mt, a decrease of 1.1% when compared with the first quarter of 2015. The CIS produced 25Mt of crude steel in the first three months of 2016, a decrease of 0.4% over the same months of 2015.
In March 2016 China produced 70.7 Mt of crude steel, an increase of 2.9% compared to March 2015. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 8.6 Mt of crude steel, a decrease of 6.8% and India’s crude steel production was 8.1 Mt, up 3.4% on March 2015.
Germany produced 3.8 Mt of crude steel in March 2016, down 1.6% compared to March 2015. Italy produced 2.0 Mt of crude steel, down by -3.5%, and France produced 1.1 Mt, down 21.4%.
Turkey’s crude steel production for March 2016 was 2.7 Mt, up by 1.3% on March 2015.
Russia produced 6.0 Mt of crude steel in March 2016, down 2.0% while Ukraine produced 2.2 Mt of crude steel, up 28.1%.
The USA 6.7 Mt of crude steel was produced in March 2016, an increase of 4.9% compared to March 2015.
Brazil’s crude steel production for March 2016 was 2.5 Mt, down by -9.5%.
The March 2016 crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 66 countries reporting to worldsteel was 70.5%, 1.3 percentage points lower than in March 2015. Compared to February 2016, it is 3.9 percentage points higher.