World crude steel production up by 0.6%

World crude steel production for February 2015 stood at 128Mt, an increase of 0.6% when compared to the same period last year, according to figures based on data received from the 65 countries reporting to worldsteel.

In China, crude steel production was estimated at 65Mt for February. Total production for January and February was 130.5Mt.

Japan produced 8.4Mt of crude steel in February 2015, down by 0.2% when compared with February 2014 and in South Korea the figure was 5.1Mt, down 4.4%.

In the EU, Germany produced 3.5Mt of crude steel, a decrease of 1.6% while the Italian steel industry produced 2Mt of crude steel, down 9.7%. France’s crude steel production was 1.3Mt, down 1.6% and in Spain the figure was 1.1 Mt, down 4.4%.

Turkey’s crude steel production for February 2015 was down 12.2% at  2.4Mt, and in Russia 5.7Mt of crude steel was produced, up by 5.6%. Ukraine’s crude steel production was down 33.2% at just 1.6Mt and the USA produced 6.3Mt of crude steel, a decrease of 7.9%.

Brazil’s crude steel production for the period was 2.7Mt, up 2.3%.

The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries in February 2015 was 73.4%  – 1.7 percentage points lower than February 2014. Compared to January 2015, it was 3.8 percentage points higher.