World crude steel production in October was 118Mt - 2.4% higher than October 2009.

According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) China’s crude steel production for October 2010 was 50.3Mt, a 3.8% decrease from October 2009.

Japan produced 9.5Mt of crude steel in October 2010, 8% higher than October 2009.

South Korea’s crude steel production for October 2010 was 5.2Mt, 11.4% up compared to the same month last year.

In the EU, Germany’s crude steel production for October 2010 was 3.8Mt, an increase of 11% on October 2009.

The US produced 6.6Mt of crude steel in October 2010, an increase of 9.6% compared to October 2009.

World crude steel production in October 2010 was 18.5% higher than in October 2008 when the impact of the global economic crisis on world crude steel production became clearer.

Crude steel production for the 66 countries during the first 10 months of 2010 was 1.165bnt, 2.4% higher than in 2008.

However, crude steel production in the EU and North America during the first 10 months of 2010 was still -17.4% and -16.8% less, compared to the same period in 2008 while Asia’s crude steel production was 14.7% higher.

www.worldsteel.org