Crude steel production in 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) reached 151.4 million tonnes (mt) in June 2018, a 5.8 per cent increase compared to June 2017, according to the association.

Crude steel production in these countries was 881.5 mt in the first six months of this year, up by 4.6 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Asia produced 613.9 mt of crude steel, an increase of 5.2 per cent over the first half of 2017, the assoication said.

The EU produced 87.3 mt of crude steel, up by 1.6 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

North America’s crude steel production in the first six months of 2018 was 59.0 mt, an increase of 2.4 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year. The CIS produced 50.5 mt of crude steel in the first six months, an increase of 2.8 per cent over the same months of 2017.

China’s crude steel production for June 2018 was 80.2 mt, an increase of 7.5 per cent compared to June 2017. Japan produced 8.8 mt of crude steel in June 2018, up 4.2 per cent on June 2017.

India produced 8.7 mt of crude steel in June 2018, an increase of 7.4 per cent compared to June 2017. South Korea’s crude steel production was 6.1 mt in June 2018, an increase of 3.2 per cent on June 2017.

In the EU, Italy produced 2.1 mt of crude steel, up by 1.5 per cent on June 2017. France produced 1.3 mt of crude steel, a decrease of 4.4 per cent compared to June 2017.

Turkey’s crude steel production for June 2018 was 3.0 mt, up by 0.7 per cent on June 2017.

Crude steel production in Ukraine was 1.7 mt this month, up 7.5 per cent on June 2017.

The US produced 6.8 mt of crude steel in June 2018, an increase of 0.8 per cent compared to June 2017.

The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 64 countries in June 2018 was 78.5 per cent. This is 3.8 percentage points higher than June 2017. Compared to May 2018, it is 1.0 percentage point higher. – TradeArabia News Service