For the 67 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) world crude steel production was 410.5 mill. t in the first three months of 2017, up by 5.7% compared to the same period in 2016.
Asia produced 280.6 mill. t of crude steel, an increase of 5.4% over the fi[ds_preview]rst quarter of 2016. The EU produced 42.5 mill. t of crude steel in the first quarter of 2017, up by 3.8% compared to the same quarter of 2016. North America’s crude steel production in the first three months of 2017 was 29.3 mill. t, an increase of 7.1% compared to the first quarter of 2016. The C.I.S. produced 25.9 mill. t of crude steel in the first three months of 2017, an increase of 4.0% over the same months of 2016.
China’s crude steel production for March 2017 was 72.0 mill. t, an increase of 1.8% compared to March 2016. Japan produced 8.9 mill. t of crude steel in March 2017, an increase of 1.8% compared to March 2016.
BIMCO recently identified China’s imports of iron ore for steel production as the current key driver for dry bulk shipping demand. But despite a growth of 7.5% in total imported iron ore for 2016, the growth in Chinese steel production remained limited at 1.2% as the import growth originats in China substituting domestically mined ore of low iron content for imported ore of much higher iron content.
In the EU, Germany produced 3.9 mill. t of crude steel in March 2017, an increase of 1.9% compared to March 2016. Italy produced 2.2 mill. t of crude steel, up by 9.5% on March 2016. Spain produced 1.4 mill. t of rude steel, up by 15.7% on March 2016. France produced 1.3 mill. t of crude steel, up by 18.1% compared to March 2016.
Turkey’s crude steel production for March 2017 was 3.1 mill. t, up by 14.0% on March 2016. The US produced 7.0 mill. t of crude steel in March 2017, an increase of 3.4% compared to March 2016. Brazil’s crude steel production for March 2017 was 2.9 mill. t, up by 13.7% on March 2016.
The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 67 countries in March 2017 was 72.7%. This is 2.2 percentage points higher than March 2016. Compared to February 2017, it is 2.0 percentage points higher.
The World Steel Association (worldsteel) members represent approximately 85% of the world‘s steel production, including over 160 steel producers with nine of the ten largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. The monthly crude steel capacity utilisation ratio is calculated based on crude steel production information available at worldsteel and OECD capacity estimates.
