World steel production dropped in 2009

India, China and the Middle East were the only regions to show growth in 2009, while steel production declined in nearly all the major steel producing countries and regions including the EU, North America, South America and the CIS.

China’s steel production in 2009 was 567.8Mt, an increase of 13.5% on 2008. This is a record annual crude steel production figure for a single country. China’s share of world steel production continued to grow in 2009 accounting for 47% of world total crude steel, a 9% increase from 2008.India’s production was 56.6Mt in 2009, a 2.8% growth on 2008.

The EU-27 where all major steel producing countries including Germany, Italy and France showed substantial decline recording a decrease of 29.7% compared to 2008, producing 139.1Mt in 2009.
North American production for 2009 was 82.3Mt, a decrease of 33.9% on 2008. The US produced 58.1Mt, 36.4% lower than 2008.

The CIS showed a decrease of 14.7% in 2009. Russian output at 59.9Mt, was a 12.5% reduction while Ukraine recorded a decrease of 20.2% with year-end figures of 29.8Mt.

For January 2010, world crude steel production was 109Mt, 25.5% higher than January 2009. China’s crude steel production for January 2010 was 48.7Mt, an increase of 18.2% on January 2009. Japan produced 8.7Mt of crude steel, up 36.8% compared to the same month last year. South Korea showed an increase of 32.4% from January 2009, producing 4.5Mt of crude steel in January 2010. The US produced 6.1Mt of crude steel, an increase of 48.8% compared to January 2009.

In December 2009, world crude steel output for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 106.4Mt, an increase of 30.2% compared to December 2008. Most major-steel producing countries showed two-digit growth in December 2009.