World steel output grows a mere 0.8%

Data from World Steel Association (WSA) shows the global production of the alloy rose a mere 0.8 percent in January 2013 to 125 million tonne (mn t) from 123.7 mn t in January 2012.

During January 2013, India produced 6.3 mn t, data from the association shows. In its monthly report, the body said the growth in production in January was lower than the average growth the industry had clocked during the entire 2012 at 1.2 per cent.

In January this year, China was the highest producer of steel with 59.3 mn t, up 4.6 per cent over January 2012. Japan produced 8.9 mn t, South Korea 5.8 mn t.

In the European Union, Germany produced 3.6 mn t, Italy – 1.8 mn t, France – 1.4 mn t and Spain – 1.1 mn t. Turkey’s crude steel production for January 2013 was 2.9 mn t, down 8.8 per cent in January 2012, WSA said.

Steel output in the US also declined 5.8 per cent to 7.3 mn t. The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio declined to 71.2 per cent from 73.2 per cent in December 2012. Compared to January 2012, it is 5.5 percentage points lower, WSA said.