India beats Russia, China to log highest steel output growth in Jan

27 February 2017

All top steel-producing countries, including China and India, reported positive growth in steel production in January leading to an overall 7% spike in global steel production to 136.5 million tonne (mt). India recorded the highest growth rate in production at 12%, followed by Russia at 11.6%, China at 7.4% and the US at 6.5%. Japan and Korea also posted positive output growth, figures compiled by the World Steel Association (WSA) revealed. China’s production, however, was the highest at 67 mt, followed by Japan at 9 mt, while India’s production was at 8.4 mt, the third highest among other nations. The US produced 6.8 mt, Russia 6.1 mt and Korea produced 5.9 mt.

“The steel demand is picking up. Prices have also improved. These have led to higher production across the world,” an analyst said. In the EU, Germany produced 3.6 mt of steel in January 2017, an increase of 1.2% compared with January 2016. Italy produced 1.8 mt and Spain produced 1.2 mt, down by (-)4.2% compared with January 2016.

Turkey produced 2.9 mt in January while Ukraine produced 2.1 mt. Brazil’s output was 2.9 mt, up 14.4% over January 2016.

The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio in January 2017 was 68.5%. This is 3.4 percentage points higher than in January 2016.

In the whole of 2016, China produced 808 mt of steel followed by China at 105 mt. India’s steel output was 96 mt, the third largest among the major producers. The US produced 79 mt followed by Russia at 71 mt. Barring China and India, no other major nations recorded positive growth in production. India’s production growth had been the highest at 7.4%, China’s was 1.2%. The world’s steel production grew 0.8 % to stand at 1,629 mt in 2016.

Source – FE