World steel output rises 0.8% in Jan

Global crude steel production stood at 139.4 million tonnes (mt) in January, marginally up by 0.8 per cent from the corresponding period last year, as India and Japan made sizeable contributions, the World Steel Association said.

Both India and Japan produced 9 mt of crude steel respectively, which was up by 2.5 per cent for India and 0.3 per cent for Japan from the same period last year.

China, the world's largest steel consumer and producer, witnessed a drop in production in January, as its output decreased 0.9 per cent, year on year, to 67 mt. In 2017, China was the highest contributor to total production, and its share rose to 49.2 per cent at 831.7 mt from 49 per cent in 2016.

In the European region, Italy's crude steel production for January was 2 mt, up 5.3 per cent from last year, while France produced 1.4 mt of crude steel, an increase of 3 per cent. Spain produced 1.1 mt in January 2018, a decrease of 1 per cent.

The US produced 6.8 mt of crude steel in January, a 2.2 per cent decrease from last year. Though the world crude steel production was higher in January compared to last year, the capacity utilisation of the 64 reporting countries of the World Steel Association was at 70 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points compared to same the period last year, even as it remained 0.7 percentage points higher as against the preceding months. Total world steel production in 2017 was 1,162.5 mt.