Posted on 24 Jun 2015
World steel output declined 2.1 per cent in May this year compared to May 2014, led mainly by drop in steel output across Europe, the US, China and Japan. India, however, seemed to have bucked the trend and posted a 4 per cent increase in steel production in May 2015.
Domestic steel production went up to 7.68 metric tonne in May 2015 over 7.38 metric tonne in May 2014. In the five month period between January-May 2015, India's steel output went up 6.1 per cent to 37.6 metric tonne in against 35.4 metric tonne in January-May 2014.
According to data from the
Brussels-based World Steel Association (WSA), global steel output went down to
139.3 mt in May 2015 against 142.3 mt in May 2014. Between January-May 2015, it
dipped 1.9 per cent to 675.6 metric tonne from 689 metric tonne in the
five-month period between January 2014 and May 2014.The 65 countries listed
under WSA represent 98 per cent of global crude steel production in 2014.
China's steady decline in steel output was one of the largest con tributors to the fall in steel output globally. The country, which is the leading producer of steel, saw output shrink 1.7 per cent in May this year to 69.1 metric tonne compared with 71.1 metric tonne in same month last year. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan another leading global producer of steel saw output drop 7 per cent from 9.5 metric tonne a year ago to 8.9 metric tonne in May 2015. South Korea reported a steel production of 6 mt in May 2015, down 2.6 per cent compared to May 2014.
US steel output too went down to 6.8 metric tonne in May this year, posting a 8.5 per cent decrease compared with 7.4 mt a year ago. In Europe, the biggest fall was reported from Italy where output shrank 12.6 per cent to 2 metric tonne in May 2015 from 2.29 mt in May 2014. Germany's steel production too went down 5.4 per cent to 3.7 metric tonne in May this year from 3.9 metric tonne last year.
Among the CIS countries, Ukraine posted the biggest fall in steel output during May 2015. The country produced 2.2 metric tonne of steel, down 23.0 per cent against the same month in 2014. In May 2015, Russia produced 6.1 metric tonne of crude steel, down -1.9 per cent over May 2014.
