Posted on 28 Aug 2017
According to the latest monthly production statistics published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), the crude steel output by 67 member countries registered significant surge during the month of July this year. The output totaled 143.245 million tonnes (Mt) in July 2017, considerably higher by 6.3% upon comparison with the production during the same month a year before. The global crude steel production had totaled 134.798 Mt in July 2016.
The crude steel capacity utilization rate of member countries in July this year was 72.1%. This was higher by 3.2% than July 2016. However, the rate was 1.5% lower than June this year.
The crude steel production by South American countries has increased marginally by 0.4% in July this year. The monthly output totaled 3.569 Mt. Venezuela recorded the sharpest decline in output. The country’s crude steel production recorded 37% decline to total around 30,000 tonnes. Peruvian crude steel output reported 8% jump over the previous year. The other countries to report surge in production were Ecuador and Brazil. On the other hand, Chile, Paraguay and Colombia recorded sharp decline in steel production.
The crude steel production by North American countries has increased by 4.4% during the month. The production totaled 9.941 Mt during the month, as compared with 9.525 Mt during July last year. The US crude steel output totaled 7.071 Mt, higher by 5.6% when matched with 6.697 Mt during the same month a year before. The largest decline in output was recorded by Cuba and Guatemala. Mexican output increased marginally by 1.9% year-on-year to total 1.725 Mt. The output by Canada too witnessed marginal rise of 1.6%.
The Asian crude steel output surged higher by 7.9% during the month. The Chinese output increased further by 10.3%. The country’s output totaled 74.021 Mt in July ‘17, as compared with 67.127 Mt in July last year. The second largest producer in the region was Japan, whose output recorded 4.3% year-on-year decline. In third place was India with production of 8.362 Mt, slightly higher by 3.5% when compared with the same month a year before. Vietnam and Pakistan reported notable rise in production volume. The production by South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan too were up when matched with the previous year.
The crude steel production by the African region registered 4.2% jump during the month. The Egyptian production soared by nearly 19.5%. However, this was largely offset by production declines in Libya and South Africa. The Libyan output plunged nearly 37%, whereas the South African production declined by 6% over the previous year.
Among other regions, the output by the Middle East region saw modest increase of 3.8% year-on-year. EU-28 countries too produced 3.9% more steel during July 2017 in comparison with July last year. CIS region’s production tumbled by nearly 8%. The production by the Oceania region has declined marginally by 2.2%.
The cumulative steel output during the first seven months of the current year totaled 977.321 Mt, up by 4.6% over the previous year. The output during the corresponding seven-month period in 2016 had totaled 933.976 Mt.
