Posted on 23 Dec 2016
The monthly statistics released by the World Steel Association indicate that blast furnace iron production by world countries dropped by 2.97% during November this year. The production totaled 94.418 million tonnes (Mt) during the month, as compared with the production of 97.313 Mt during October this year. The cumulative BFI output during the initial eleven months of the current year totaled 1.063 billion tonnes. It must be noted that the above information is based on the output recorded by 39 countries, which accounted for 99% of the world BFI production during the entire year 2015.
The BFI output by the Asian region totaled 74.010 Mt during the month, accounting for nearly 78.4% of the total world output. The output during the month dropped when matched with the output of 76.265 Mt during October ’16. The leading Asian BFI producers during November this year were China (57.230 Mt), Japan (6.390 Mt), India (5.320 Mt) and South Korea (3.840 Mt). The cumulative production by Asian region totaled 830.297 Mt during the initial eleven-month period of the current year.
The 28 countries of the European Union recorded an output of 7.200 Mt during November this year, down considerably when matched with the output of 7.634 Mt output reported during the prior month. The top producers of the region were Germany (2.060 Mt), France (867,000 tonnes), the Netherlands (508,000 tonnes), Italy (494,000 tonnes), Austria (474,000 tonnes) and the UK (464,000 tonnes). The eleven-month cumulative BFI production by the EU-28 countries totaled 83.730 Mt. Other European countries including Boznia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey reported monthly and cumulative output of 1.035 Mt and 11.167 Mt respectively.
The CIS region reported BFI production totaling 6.405 Mt during the month. The output declined marginally when matched with the previous month output of 6.416 Mt. The leading BFI producer during the month was Russia with 4.215 Mt. The other key producers were Ukraine (1.885 Mt) and Kazakhstan (305,000 tonnes). The Jan-Nov ’16 production by the CIS region totaled 72.231 Mt.
The North American BFI output dropped marginally from 2.548 Mt in October ’16 to 2.505 Mt in November ’16. The output by the US totaled 1.750 Mt, constituting nearly 64% of the total production by the region. The US production has dropped marginally by less than 1% from 1.614 Mt in October to 1.600 Mt in November. The other key BFI producing nations were Canada (480,000 tonnes) and Mexico (425,000 tonnes). The regional output during Jan-November ’16 totaled 30.207 Mt. The cumulative output by the US during the first eleven months of the year totaled 20.417 Mt. The output by Canada and Mexico totaled 5.695 Mt and 4.095 Mt respectively.
Meantime, the blast furnace iron production by South America reduced marginally over the previous month to total 2.335 Mt in Nov ‘16. Among the countries in the region, Brazil produced 2.085 Mt during the month. The output by Brazil had totaled 2.234 Mt during the month prior to this. The other key BFI producers during the month were Argentina (175,000 tonnes), Chile (50,000 tonnes), Colombia (20,000 tonnes) and Paraguay (5,000 tonnes). The South American output during the first eleven months of the year 2016 totaled 25.636 Mt.
Oceania region’s BFI production remained more or less flat during November this year. The production totaled 372,000 tonnes, down marginally when compared with the production of 373,000 tonnes during October this year. The output by Australia recorded marginal decline from 332,000 tonnes in Octobert to 313,000 tonnes in November. On the other hand, New Zealand’s output surged higher from 41,000 tonnes to 59,000 tonnes over the previous month. The cumulative output during the initial eleven-month period of the year by the region totaled 3.930 Mt.
